Polypeptides having cellulolytic enhancing activity and polynucleotides encoding same

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to isolated polypeptides having cellulolytic enhancing activity and isolated nucleic acids encoding the polypeptides. The invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs, vectors, and host cells comprising the nucleic acids as well as methods for producing and using the polypeptides.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/051,670, filed Feb. 4, 2005, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/542,614, filed Feb. 6, 2004, which applications are incorporated herein by reference.

STATEMENT AS TO RIGHTS TO INVENTIONS MADE UNDER FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

This invention was made with Government support under NREL Subcontract No. ZCO-30017-02, Prime Contract DE-AC36-98GO10337 awarded by the Department of Energy. The government has certain rights in this invention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to isolated polypeptides having cellulolytic enhancing activity and isolated polynucleotides encoding the polypeptides. The invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs, vectors, and host cells comprising the polynucleotides as well as methods for producing and using the polypeptides.

2. Description of the Related Art

Cellulose is a polymer of the simple sugar glucose covalently bonded by beta-1,4-linkages. Many microorganisms produce enzymes that hydrolyze beta-linked glucans. These enzymes include endoglucanases, cellobiohydrolases, and beta-glucosidases. Endoglucanases digest the cellulose polymer at random locations, opening it to attack by cellobiohydrolases. Cellobiohydrolases sequentially release molecules of cellobiose from the ends of the cellulose polymer. Cellobiose is a water-soluble beta-1,4-linked dimer of glucose. Beta-glucosidases hydrolyze cellobiose to glucose.

The conversion of cellulosic feedstocks into ethanol has the advantages of the ready availability of large amounts of feedstock, the desirability of avoiding burning or land filling the materials, and the cleanliness of the ethanol fuel. Wood, agricultural residues, herbaceous crops, and municipal solid wastes have been considered as feedstocks for ethanol production. These materials primarily consist of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Once the cellulose is converted to glucose, the glucose is easily fermented by yeast into ethanol.

It would be advantageous in the art to improve the conversion of cellulosic feedstocks.

It is an object of the present invention to provide isolated polypeptides having cellulolytic enhancing activity and isolated nucleic acid sequences encoding the polypeptides to improve the conversion of cellulosic feedstocks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to isolated polypeptides having cellulolytic enhancing activity selected from the group consisting of:

(a) a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence which has at least 70% identity with amino acids 23 to 250 of SEQ ID NO: 2;

(b) a polypeptide encoded by a nucleic acid sequence which hybridizes under medium stringency conditions with (i) nucleotides 67 to 796 of SEQ ID NO: 1, (ii) the cDNA sequence contained in nucleotides 67 to 796 of SEQ ID NO: 1, or (iii) a complementary strand of (i) or (ii); and

(c) a polypeptide having one or more conservative deletions, insertions, and substitutions of amino acids 23 to 250 of SEQ ID NO: 2.

The present invention also relates to isolated polynucleotides encoding polypeptides having cellulolytic enhancing activity, selected from the group consisting of:

(a) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence which has at least 70% identity with amino acids 23 to 250 of SEQ ID NO: 2;

(b) a polynucleotide having at least 70% identity with nucleotides 67 to 796 of SEQ ID NO: 1; and

(c) a polynucleotide which hybridizes under at least medium stringency conditions with (i) nucleotides 67 to 796 of SEQ ID NO: 1, (ii) the cDNA sequence contained in nucleotides 67 to 796 of SEQ ID NO: 1, or (iii) a complementary strand of (i) or (ii).

The present invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs, recombinant expression vectors, and recombinant host cells comprising the polynucleotides.

The present invention also relates to methods for producing such a polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity comprising: (a) cultivating a recombinant host cell comprising a nucleic acid construct comprising a polynucleotide encoding the polypeptide under conditions conducive for production of the polypeptide; and (b) recovering the polypeptide.

The present invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs comprising a gene encoding a protein, wherein the gene is operably linked to a nucleotide sequence encoding a signal peptide consisting of nucleotides 1 to 66 of SEQ ID NO: 1, wherein the gene is foreign to the nucleotide sequence.

The present invention also relates to methods for degrading or converting a cellulosic material, comprising: treating the cellulosic material with an effective amount of a cellulolytic protein in the presence of an effective amount of a polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity, wherein the presence of the polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity increases the degradation of cellulosic material compared to the absence of the polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity.

The present invention further relates to methods for producing an organic substance, comprising:

(a) saccharifying a cellulosic material with an effective amount of a cellulolytic protein in the presence of an effective amount of a polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity, wherein the presence of the polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity increases the degradation of cellulosic material compared to the absence of the polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity;

(b) fermenting the saccharified cellulosic material of step (a) with one or more fermentating microorganisms; and

(c) recovering the organic substance from the fermentation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows the genomic DNA sequence and the deduced amino acid sequence of a Thermoascus aurantiacus cellulolytic enhancing activity (SEQ ID NOs: 1 and 2, respectively). Predicted introns are italicized. The predicted (SignaIP) signal peptide is underlined. The coding sequence is 799 bp including the stop codon and is interrupted by one intron of 56 bp. The predicted mature polypeptide contains 228 amino acids.

FIG. 2 shows a restriction map of pAILo1.

FIG. 3 shows a restriction map of pBANe10.

FIG. 4 shows a restriction map of pAILo2.

FIG. 5 shows a restriction map of pDZA2.

DEFINITIONS

Cellulolytic enhancing activity: The term “cellulolytic enhancing activity” is defined herein as a biological activity which enhances the hydrolysis of a cellulosic material by proteins having cellulolytic activity. For purposes of the present invention, cellulolytic enhancing activity is determined by measuring the increase in reducing sugars from the hydrolysis of a cellulosic material by cellulolytic protein under the following conditions: 2.5 mg of cellulolytic protein/g of PCS for 5-7 day at 50° C. in the presence and absence of 0.01-2.5 mg of cellulolytic enhancing activity per g of cellulose in PCS compared to a control hydrolysis with equal total protein loading without cellulolytic enhancing activity (5.01-7.5 mg of cellulolytic protein/g of cellulose in PCS). In a preferred aspect, a cellulase preparation derived from fermentation of Tricoderma reesei expressing a beta-glucosidase from Aspergillus oryzae (WO 02/095014), hereinafter called Tr/AoBG and obtained from Novozymes A/S, Bagsværd, Denmark, of cellulase protein loading is used as the source of the cellulolytic activity.

The polypeptides of the present invention have at least 20%, preferably at least 40%, more preferably at least 50%, more preferably at least 60%, more preferably at least 70%, more preferably at least 80%, even more preferably at least 90%, most preferably at least 95%, and even most preferably at least 100% of the cellulolytic enhancing activity of the polypeptide consisting of the amino acid sequence shown as amino acids 23 to 250 of SEQ ID NO: 2.

Cellulosic material: The term “cellulosic material” is defined herein as any material containing cellulose. Cellulose is generally found, for example, in the stems, leaves, hulls, husks, and cobs of plants or leaves, branches, and wood of trees. The cellulosic material can also be, but is not limited to, herbaceous material, agricultural residues, forestry residues, municipal solid wastes, waste paper, and pulp and paper mill residues. It is understood herein that the cellulose may be in the form of lignocellulose, a plant cell wall material containing lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose in a mixed matrix.

In a preferred aspect, the cellulosic material is corn stover. In another preferred aspect, the cellulosic material is corn fiber. In another preferred aspect, the cellulosic material is rice straw. In another preferred aspect, the cellulosic material is paper and pulp processing waste. In another preferred aspect, the cellulosic material is woody or herbaceous plants. In another preferred aspect, the cellulosic material is bagasse.

The cellulosic material may be used as is or may be subjected to pretreatment, using conventional methods known in the art. For example, physical pretreatment techniques can include various types of milling, irradiation, steaming/steam explosion, and hydrothermolysis; chemical pretreatment techniques can include dilute acid, alkaline, organic solvent, ammonia, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and pH-controlled hydrothermolysis; and biological pretreatment techniques can involve applying lignin-solubilizing microorganisms (see, for example, Hsu, T.-A., 1996, Pretreatment of biomass, in Handbook on Bioethanol: Production and Utilization, Wyman, C. E., ed., Taylor & Francis, Washington, D.C., 179-212; Ghosh, P., and Singh, A., 1993, Physicochemical and biological treatments for enzymatic/microbial conversion of lignocellulosic biomass, Adv. Appl. Microbiol. 39: 295-333; McMillan, J. D., 1994, Pretreating lignocellulosic biomass: a review, in Enzymatic Conversion of Biomass for Fuels Production, Himmel, M. E., Baker, J. O., and Overend, R. P., eds., ACS Symposium Series 566, American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C., chapter 15; Gong, C. S., Cao, N. J., Du, J., and Tsao, G. T., 1999, Ethanol production from renewable resources, in Advances in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology, Scheper, T., ed., Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, Germany, 65: 207-241; Olsson, L., and Hahn-Hagerdal, B., 1996, Fermentation of lignocellulosic hydrolysates for ethanol production, Enz. Microb. Tech. 18: 312-331; and Vallander, L., and Eriksson, K.-E. L., 1990, Production of ethanol from lignocellulosic materials: State of the art, Adv. Biochem. Eng./Biotechnol. 42: 63-95).

Cellulolytic activity: The term “cellulolytic activity” is defined herein as a biological activity which hydrolyzes a cellulosic material. For purposes of the present invention, cellulolytic activity is determined by measuring the increase in hydrolysis of a cellulosic material by a cellulolytic mixture under the following conditions: 1-10 mg of cellulolytic protein/g of cellulose in PCS for 5-7 day at 50° C. compared to a control hydrolysis without addition of cellulolytic protein. In a preferred aspect, a cellulase preparation derived from fermentation of Trichoderma reesei expressing a beta-glucosidase from Aspergillus oryzae (WO 02/095014), hereinafter called Tr/AoBG and obtained from Novozymes A/S, Bagsvaærd, Denmark, of cellulase protein loading is used as the source of the cellulolytic activity.

Pre-treated corn stover: The term “Pre-treated Corn Stover” or “PCS” is defined herein as a cellulosic material derived from corn stover by treatment with heat and dilute acid. For purposes of the present invention, PCS is made by the method described in Example 9, or variations thereof in time, temperature and amount of acid.

Family 61 glycoside hydrolase: The term “Family 61 glycoside hydrolase” or “Family GH61” is defined herein as a polypeptide failing into the glycoside hydrolase Family 61 according to B. Henrissat, 1991, A classification of glycosyl hydrolases based on amino-acid sequence similarities, Biochem. J. 280: 309-316, and Henrissat B., and Bairoch A., 1996, Updating the sequence-based classification of glycosyl hydrolases, Biochem. J. 316: 695-696. Presently, Henrissat lists the GH61 Family as unclassified indicating that properties such as mechanism, catalytic nucleophile/base, catalytic proton donors, and 3-D structure are not known for polypeptides belonging to this family.

Isolated polypeptide: The term “isolated polypeptide” as used herein refers to a polypeptide which is at least 20% pure, preferably at least 40% pure, more preferably at least 60% pure, even more preferably at least 80% pure, most preferably at least 90% pure, and even most preferably at least 95% pure, as determined by SDS-PAGE.

Substantially pure polypeptide: The term “substantially pure polypeptide” denotes herein a polypeptide preparation which contains at most 10%, preferably at most 8%, more preferably at most 6%, more preferably at most 5%, more preferably at most 4%, more preferably at most 3%, even more preferably at most 2%, most preferably at most 1%, and even most preferably at most 0.5% by weight of other polypeptide material with which it is natively associated. It is, therefore, preferred that the substantially pure polypeptide is at least 92% pure, preferably at least 94% pure, more preferably at least 95% pure, more preferably at least 96% pure, more preferably at least 96% pure, more preferably at least 97% pure, more preferably at least 98% pure, even more preferably at least 99%, most preferably at least 99.5% pure, and even most preferably 100% pure by weight of the total polypeptide material present in the preparation.

The polypeptides of the present invention are preferably in a substantially pure form. In particular, it is preferred that the polypeptides are in “essentially pure form”, i.e., that the polypeptide preparation is essentially free of other polypeptide material with which it is natively associated. This can be accomplished, for example, by preparing the polypeptide by means of well-known recombinant methods or by classical purification methods.

Herein, the term “substantially pure polypeptide” is synonymous with the terms “isolated polypeptide” and “polypeptide in isolated form.”

Identity: The relatedness between two amino acid sequences or between two nucleotide sequences is described by the parameter “identity”.

For purposes of the present invention, the degree of identity between two amino acid sequences can be determined by blastp algorithm (Higgins, 1989, CABIOS 5: 151-153), using Paracel BioView Workbench software (Paracel, Pasadena, Calif.) with a blosum62 matrix. Gap penalties, existence: 11, and extension: 1, were employed as pairwise alignment parameters.

For purposes of the present invention, the degree of identity between two nucleotide sequences is determined by the Wilbur-Lipman method (Wilbur and Lipman, 1983, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 80: 726-730) using the LASERGENE™ MEGALIGN™ software (DNASTAR, Inc., Madison, Wis.) with an identity table and the following multiple alignment parameters: Gap penalty of 10 and gap length penalty of 10. Pairwise alignment parameters are Ktuple=3, gap penalty=3, and windows=20.

Polypeptide fragment: The term “polypeptide fragment” is defined herein as a polypeptide having one or more amino acids deleted from the amino and/or carboxyl terminus of amino acids 23 to 250 of SEQ ID NO: 2, or a homologous sequence thereof, wherein the fragment has cellulolytic enhancing activity. Preferably, a fragment of amino acids 23 to 250 of SEQ ID NO: 2 contains at least 175 amino acid residues, more preferably at least 190 amino acid residues, and most preferably at least 205 amino acid residues.

Subsequence: The term “subsequence” is defined herein as a nucleotide sequence having one or more nucleotides deleted from the 5′ and/or 3′ end of nucleotides 67 to 796 of SEQ ID NO: 1, or a homologous sequence thereof, wherein the subsequence encodes a polypeptide fragment having cellulolytic enhancing activity. Preferably, a subsequence of nucleotides 67 to 796 of SEQ ID NO: 1 contains at least 525 nucleotides, more preferably at least 570 nucleotides, and most preferably at least 615 nucleotides.

Allelic variant: The term “allelic variant” denotes herein any of two or more alternative forms of a gene occupying the same chromosomal locus. Allelic variation arises naturally through mutation, and may result in polymorphism within populations. Gene mutations can be silent (no change in the encoded polypeptide) or may encode polypeptides having altered amino acid sequences. An allelic variant of a polypeptide is a polypeptide encoded by an allelic variant of a gene.

Isolated polynucleotide: The term “isolated polynucleotide” as used herein refers to a polynucleotide which is at least 20% pure, preferably at least 40% pure, more preferably at least 60% pure, even more preferably at least 80% pure, most preferably at least 90% pure, and even most preferably at least 95% pure, as determined by agarose electrophoresis.

Substantially pure polynucleotide: The term “substantially pure polynucleotide” as used herein refers to a polynucleotide preparation free of other extraneous or unwanted nucleotides and in a form suitable for use within genetically engineered protein production systems. Thus, a substantially pure polynucleotide contains at most 10%, preferably at most 8%, more preferably at most 6%, more preferably at most 5%, more preferably at most 4%, more preferably at most 3%, even more preferably at most 2%, most preferably at most 1%, and even most preferably at most 0.5% by weight of other polynucleotide material with which it is natively associated. A substantially pure polynucleotide may, however, include naturally occurring 5′ and 3′ untranslated regions, such as promoters and terminators. It is preferred that the substantially pure polynucleotide is at least 90% pure, preferably at least 92% pure, more preferably at least 94% pure, more preferably at least 95% pure, more preferably at least 96% pure, more preferably at least 97% pure, even more preferably at least 98% pure, most preferably at least 99%, and even most preferably at least 99.5% pure by weight. The polynucleotides of the present invention are preferably in a substantially pure form. In particular, it is preferred that the polynucleotides disclosed herein are in “essentially pure form”, i.e., that the polynucleotide preparation is essentially free of other polynucleotide material with which it is natively associated. Herein, the term “substantially pure polynucleotide” is synonymous with the terms “isolated polynucleotide” and “polynucleotide in isolated form.” The polynucleotides may be of genomic, cDNA, RNA, semisynthetic, synthetic origin, or any combinations thereof.

cDNA: The term “cDNA” is defined herein as a DNA molecule which can be prepared by reverse transcription from a mature, spliced, mRNA molecule obtained from a eukaryotic cell. cDNA lacks intron sequences that are usually present in the corresponding genomic DNA. The initial, primary RNA transcript is a precursor to mRNA which is processed through a series of steps before appearing as mature spliced mRNA. These steps include the removal of intron sequences by a process called splicing. cDNA derived from mRNA lacks, therefore, any intron sequences.

Nucleic acid construct: The term “nucleic acid construct” as used herein refers to a nucleic acid molecule, either single- or double-stranded, which is isolated from a naturally occurring gene or which is modified to contain segments of nucleic acids in a manner that would not otherwise exist in nature. The term nucleic acid construct is synonymous with the term “expression cassette” when the nucleic acid construct contains the control sequences required for expression of a coding sequence of the present invention.

Control sequence: The term “control sequences” is defined herein to include all components, which are necessary or advantageous for the expression of a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide of the present invention. Each control sequence may be native or foreign to the nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide or native or foreign to each other. Such control sequences include, but are not limited to, a leader, polyadenylation sequence, propeptide sequence, promoter, signal peptide sequence, and transcription terminator. At a minimum, the control sequences include a promoter, and transcriptional and translational stop signals. The control sequences may be provided with linkers for the purpose of introducing specific restriction sites facilitating ligation of the control sequences with the coding region of the nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide.

Operably linked: The term “operably linked” denotes herein a configuration in which a control sequence is placed at an appropriate position relative to the coding sequence of the polynucleotide sequence such that the control sequence directs the expression of the coding sequence of a polypeptide.

Coding sequence: When used herein the term “coding sequence” means a nucleotide sequence, which directly specifies the amino acid sequence of its protein product. The boundaries of the coding sequence are generally determined by an open reading frame, which usually begins with the ATG start codon or alternative start codons such as GTG and TTG and ends with a stop codon such as TAA, TAG and TGA. The coding sequence may be a DNA, cDNA, or recombinant nucleotide sequence.

Expression: The term “expression” includes any step involved in the production of a polypeptide including, but not limited to, transcription, post-transcriptional modification, translation, post-translational modification, and secretion.

Expression vector: The term “expression vector” is defined herein as a linear or circular DNA molecule that comprises a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide of the invention, and which is operably linked to additional nucleotides that provide for its expression.

Host cell: The term “host cell”, as used herein, includes any cell type which is susceptible to transformation, transfection, transduction, and the like with a nucleic acid construct or expression vector comprising a polynucleotide of the present invention.

Modification: The term “modification” means herein any chemical modification of the polypeptide comprising or consisting of amino acids 23 to 250 of SEQ ID NO: 2, or a homologous sequence thereof, as well as genetic manipulation of the DNA encoding that polypeptide. The modification can be substitutions, deletions and/or insertions of one or more amino acids as well as replacements of one or more amino acid side chains.

Artificial variant: When used herein, the term “artificial variant” means a polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity produced by an organism expressing a modified nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, or a homologous sequence thereof, or the mature coding region thereof. The modified nucleotide sequence is obtained through human intervention by modification of the nucleotide sequence disclosed in SEQ ID NO: 1, or a homologous sequence thereof, or the mature coding region thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Polypeptides having Cellulolytic Enhancing Activity

In a first aspect, the present invention relates to isolated polypeptides having an amino acid sequence which has a degree of identity to amino acids 23 to 250 of SEQ ID NO: 2 (i.e., the mature polypeptide) of at least 70%, preferably at least 75%, more preferably at least 80%, more preferably at least 85%, even more preferably at least 90%, most preferably at least 95%, and even most preferably at least 97%, 98%, or 99%, which have cellulolytic enhancing activity (hereinafter “homologous polypeptides”). In a preferred aspect, the homologous polypeptides have an amino acid sequence which differs by ten amino acids, preferably by five amino acids, more preferably by four amino acids, even more preferably by three amino acids, most preferably by two amino acids, and even most preferably by one amino acid from amino acids 23 to 250 of SEQ ID NO: 2.

A polypeptide of the present invention preferably comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 or an allelic variant thereof; or a fragment thereof that has cellulolytic enhancing activity. In a preferred aspect, a polypeptide comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2. In another preferred aspect, a polypeptide comprises amino acids 23 to 250 of SEQ ID NO: 2, or an allelic variant thereof; or a fragment thereof that has cellulolytic enhancing activity. In another preferred aspect, a polypeptide comprises amino acids 23 to 250 of SEQ ID NO: 2. In another preferred aspect, a polypeptide consists of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 or an allelic variant thereof; or a fragment thereof that has cellulolytic enhancing activity. In another preferred aspect, a polypeptide consists of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2. In another preferred aspect, a polypeptide consists of amino acids 23 to 250 of SEQ ID NO: 2 or an allelic variant thereof; or a fragment thereof that has cellulolytic enhancing activity. In another preferred aspect, a polypeptide consists of amino acids 23 to 250 of SEQ ID NO: 2.

In a second aspect, the present invention relates to isolated polypeptides having cellulolytic enhancing activity which are encoded by polynucleotides which hybridize under very low stringency conditions, preferably low stringency conditions, more preferably medium stringency conditions, more preferably medium-high stringency conditions, even more preferably high stringency conditions, and most preferably very high stringency conditions with (i) nucleotides 67 to 796 of SEQ ID NO: 1, (ii) the cDNA sequence contained in nucleotides 67 to 796 of SEQ ID NO: 1, (iii) a subsequence of (i) or (ii), or (iv) a complementary strand of (i), (ii), or (iii) (J. Sambrook, E. F. Fritsch, and T. Maniatis, 1989, Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual, 2d edition, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.). A subsequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 contains at least 100 contiguous nucleotides or preferably at least 200 contiguous nucleotides. Moreover, the subsequence may encode a polypeptide fragment which has cellulolytic enhancing activity.

The nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or a subsequence thereof; as well as the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 or a fragment thereof, may be used to design a nucleic acid probe to identify and clone DNA encoding polypeptides having cellulolytic enhancing activity from strains of different genera or species according to methods well known in the art. In particular, such probes can be used for hybridization with the genomic or cDNA of the genus or species of interest, following standard Southern blotting procedures, in order to identify and isolate the corresponding gene therein. Such probes can be considerably shorter than the entire sequence, but should be at least 14, preferably at least 25, more preferably at least 35, and most preferably at least 70 nucleotides in length. It is, however, preferred that the nucleic acid probe is at least 100 nucleotides in length. For example, the nucleic acid probe may be at least 200 nucleotides, preferably at least 300 nucleotides, more preferably at least 400 nucleotides, or most preferably at least 500 nucleotides in length. Even longer probes may be used, e.g., nucleic acid probes which are at least 550 nucleotides, at least preferably at least 600 nucleotides, more preferably at least 650 nucleotides, or most preferably at least 700 nucleotides in length. Both DNA and RNA probes can be used. The probes are typically labeled for detecting the corresponding gene (for example, with ³²P, ³H, ³⁵S, biotin, or avidin). Such probes are encompassed by the present invention.

A genomic DNA or cDNA library prepared from such other organisms may, therefore, be screened for DNA which hybridizes with the probes described above and which encodes a polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity. Genomic or other DNA from such other organisms may be separated by agarose or polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, or other separation techniques. DNA from the libraries or the separated DNA may be transferred to and immobilized on nitrocellulose or other suitable carrier material. In order to identify a clone or DNA which is homologous with SEQ ID NO: 1, or a subsequence thereof, the carrier material is used in a Southern blot.

For purposes of the present invention, hybridization indicates that the nucleotide sequence hybridizes to a labeled nucleic acid probe corresponding to the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 1, the cDNA sequence contained in SEQ ID NO: 1, its complementary strand, or a subsequence thereof, under very low to very high stringency conditions. Molecules to which the nucleic acid probe hybridizes under these conditions can be detected using X-ray film.

In a preferred aspect, the nucleic acid probe is a nucleic acid sequence which encodes the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 2, or a subsequence thereof. In another preferred aspect, the nucleic acid probe is SEQ ID NO: 1. In another preferred aspect, the nucleic acid probe is the mature polypeptide coding region of SEQ ID NO: 1. In another preferred aspect, the nucleic acid probe is the nucleic acid sequence contained in plasmid pDZA2-7 which is contained in Escherichia coli NRRL B-30704, wherein the nucleic acid sequence encodes a polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity. In another preferred aspect, the nucleic acid probe is the mature polypeptide coding region contained in plasmid pDZA2-7 which is contained in Escherichia coli NRRL B-30704.

For long probes of at least 100 nucleotides in length, very low to very high stringency conditions are defined as prehybridization and hybridization at 42° C. in 5×SSPE, 0.3% SDS, 200 μg/ml sheared and denatured salmon sperm DNA, and either 25% formamide for very low and low stringencies, 35% formamide for medium and medium-high stringencies, or 50% formamide for high and very high stringencies, following standard Southern blotting procedures for 12 to 24 hours optimally.

For long probes of at least 100 nucleotides in length, the carrier material is finally washed three times each for 15 minutes using 2×SSC, 0.2% SDS preferably at least at 45° C. (very low stringency), more preferably at least at 50° C. (low stringency), more preferably at least at 55° C. (medium stringency), more preferably at least at 60° C. (medium-high stringency), even more preferably at least at 65° C. (high stringency), and most preferably at least at 70° C. (very high stringency).

For short probes which are about 15 nucleotides to about 70 nucleotides in length, stringency conditions are defined as prehybridization, hybridization, and washing post-hybridization at about 5° C. to about 10° C. below the calculated T_(m) using the calculation according to Bolton and McCarthy (1962, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 48:1390) in 0.9 M NaCl, 0.09 M Tris-HCl pH 7.6, 6 mM EDTA, 0.5% NP-40, 1× Denhardt's solution, 1 mM sodium pyrophosphate, 1 mM sodium monobasic phosphate, 0.1 mM ATP, and 0.2 mg of yeast RNA per ml following standard Southern blotting procedures for 12 to 24 hours optimally.

For short probes which are about 15 nucleotides to about 70 nucleotides in length, the carrier material is washed once in 6×SSC plus 0.1% SDS for 15 minutes and twice each for 15 minutes using 6×SSC at 5° C. to 10° C. below the calculated T_(m).

In a third aspect, the present invention relates to artificial variants comprising a conservative substitution, deletion, and/or insertion of one or more amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 2 or a homologous sequence thereof; or the mature polypeptide thereof. Preferably, amino acid changes are of a minor nature, that is conservative amino acid substitutions or insertions that do not significantly affect the folding and/or activity of the protein; small deletions, typically of one to about 30 amino acids; small amino- or carboxyl-terminal extensions, such as an amino-terminal methionine residue; a small linker peptide of up to about 20-25 residues; or a small extension that facilitates purification by changing net charge or another function, such as a poly-histidine tract, an antigenic epitope or a binding domain.

Examples of conservative substitutions are within the group of basic amino acids (arginine, lysine and histidine), acidic amino acids (glutamic acid and aspartic acid), polar amino acids (glutamine and asparagine), hydrophobic amino acids (leucine, isoleucine and valine), aromatic amino acids (phenylalanine, tryptophan and tyrosine), and small amino acids (glycine, alanine, serine, threonine and methionine). Amino acid substitutions which do not generally alter specific activity are known in the art and are described, for example, by H. Neurath and R. L. Hill, 1979, In, The Proteins, Academic Press, New York. The most commonly occurring exchanges are Ala/Ser, Val/Ile, Asp/Glu, Thr/Ser, Ala/Gly, Ala/Thr, Ser/Asn, Ala/Val, Ser/Gly, Tyr/Phe, Ala/Pro, Lys/Arg, Asp/Asn, Leu/Ile, Leu/Val, Ala/Glu, and Asp/Gly.

In addition to the 20 standard amino acids, non-standard amino acids (such as 4-hydroxyproline, 6-N-methyl lysine, 2-aminoisobutyric acid, isovaline, and alpha-methyl serine) may be substituted for amino acid residues of a wild-type polypeptide. A limited number of non-conservative amino acids, amino acids that are not encoded by the genetic code, and unnatural amino acids may be substituted for amino acid residues. “Unnatural amino acids” have been modified after protein synthesis, and/or have a chemical structure in their side chain(s) different from that of the standard amino acids. Unnatural amino acids can be chemically synthesized, and preferably, are commercially available, and include pipecolic acid, thiazolidine carboxylic acid, dehydroproline, 3- and 4-methylproline, and 3,3-dimethylproline.

Alternatively, the amino acid changes are of such a nature that the physico-chemical properties of the polypeptides are altered. For example, amino acid changes may improve the thermal stability of the polypeptide, alter the substrate specificity, change the pH optimum, and the like.

Essential amino acids in the parent polypeptide can be identified according to procedures known in the art, such as site-directed mutagenesis or alanine-scanning mutagenesis (Cunningham and Wells, 1989, Science 244: 1081-1085). In the latter technique, single alanine mutations are introduced at every residue in the molecule, and the resultant mutant molecules are tested for biological activity (i.e., cellulolytic enhancing activity) to identify amino acid residues that are critical to the activity of the molecule. See also, Hilton et al., 1996, J. Biol. Chem. 271: 4699-4708. The active site of the enzyme or other biological interaction can also be determined by physical analysis of structure, as determined by such techniques as nuclear magnetic resonance, crystallography, electron diffraction, or photoaffinity labeling, in conjunction with mutation of putative contact site amino acids. See, for example, de Vos et al., 1992, Science 255: 306-312; Smith et al., 1992, J. Mol. Biol. 224: 899-904; Wlodaver et al., 1992, FEBS Lett. 309: 59-64. The identities of essential amino acids can also be inferred from analysis of identities with polypeptides which are related to a polypeptide according to the invention.

Single or multiple amino acid substitutions can be made and tested using known methods of mutagenesis, recombination, and/or shuffling, followed by a relevant screening procedure, such as those disclosed by Reidhaar-Olson and Sauer, 1988, Science 241: 53-57; Bowie and Sauer, 1989, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86: 2152-2156; WO 95/17413; or WO 95/22625. Other methods that can be used include error-prone PCR, phage display (e.g., Lowman et al., 1991, Biochem. 30: 10832-10837: U.S. Pat. No. 5,223,409; WO 92/06204), and region-directed mutagenesis (Derbyshire et al., 1986, Gene 46: 145; Ner et al., 1988, DNA 7: 127).

Mutagenesis/shuffling methods can be combined with high-throughput, automated screening methods to detect activity of cloned, mutagenized polypeptides expressed by host cells (Ness et al., 1999, Nature Biotechnology 17: 893-896). Mutagenized DNA molecules that encode active polypeptides can be recovered from the host cells and rapidly sequenced using standard methods in the art. These methods allow the rapid determination of the importance of individual amino acid residues in a polypeptide of interest, and can be applied to polypeptides of unknown structure.

The total number of amino acid substitutions, deletions and/or insertions of amino acids 23 to 250 of SEQ ID NO: 2 is 10, preferably 9, more preferably 8, more preferably 7, more preferably at most 6, more preferably 5, more preferably 4, even more preferably 3, most preferably 2, and even most preferably 1.

Sources of Polypeptides Having Cellulolytic Enhancing Activity

A polypeptide of the present invention may be obtained from microorganisms of any genus. For purposes of the present invention, the term “obtained from” as used herein in connection with a given source shall mean that the polypeptide encoded by a nucleotide sequence is produced by the source or by a strain in which the nucleotide sequence from the source has been inserted. In a preferred aspect, the polypeptide obtained from a given source is secreted extracellularly.

A polypeptide of the present invention may be a bacterial polypeptide. For example, the polypeptide may be a gram positive bacterial polypeptide such as a Bacillus polypeptide, e.g., a Bacillus alkalophilus, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Bacillus brevis, Bacillus circulans, Bacillus coagulans, Bacillus lautus, Bacillus lentus, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus megaterum, Bacillus stearothermophilus, Bacillus subtilis, or Bacillus thuringiensis polypeptide; or a Streptomyces polypeptide, e.g., a Streptomyces lividens or Streptomyces murinus polypeptide; or a gram negative bacterial polypeptide, e.g., an E. coli or a Pseudomonas sp. polypeptide.

A polypeptide of the present invention may also be a fungal polypeptide, and more preferably a yeast polypeptide such as a Candida, Kluyveromyces, Pichia, Saccharomyces, Schizosaccharomyces, or Yarrowia polypeptide; or more preferably a filamentous fungal polypeptide such as an Acremonium, Aspergillus, Aureobasidium, Cryptococcus, Filibasidium, Fusarium, Humicola, Magnaporthe, Mucor, Myceliophthora, Neocallimastix, Neurospora, Paecilomyces, Penicillium, Piromyces, Schizophyllum, Talaromyces, Thermoascus, Thielavia, Tolypocladium, or Trichoderma polypeptide.

In a preferred aspect, the polypeptide is a Saccharomyces carisbergensis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces diastaticus, Saccharomyces douglasii, Saccharomyces kluyver, Saccharomyces norbensis, or Saccharomyces oviformis polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity.

In another preferred aspect, the polypeptide is an Aspergillus aculeatus, Aspergillus awanmori, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus foetidus, Aspergillus japonicus, Aspergillus nidulans, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus oryzae, Coprinus cinereus, Diplodia gossyppina, Fusarium bactridioides, Fusarium cerealis, Fusarium crookwellense, Fusarium culmorum, Fusarium graminearum, Fusarium graminum, Fusanum heterosporum, Fusarium negundi, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium reticulatum, Fusarium roseum, Fusarium sambucinum, Fusarium sarcochroum, Fusarium sporotrichioides, Fusarium sulphureum, Fusarium torulosum, Fusarium trichothecioides, Fusarium venenatum, Humicola insolens, Humicola lanuginosa, Magnaporthe grisea, Mucor miehei, Myceliophthora thermophila, Neurospora crassa, Penicillium purpurogenum, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Pseudoplectania nigrella, Thermoascus aurantiacus, Trichoderma harzianum, Trichoderma koningii, Trichoderma longibrachiatum, Trichoderma reesei, Trichoderma viride, or Trichophaea saccata polypeptide.

In a more preferred aspect, the polypeptide is a Thermoascus aurantiacus polypeptide, e.g., the polypeptide with the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2.

It will be understood that for the aforementioned species the invention encompasses both the perfect and imperfect states, and other taxonomic equivalents, e.g., anamorphs, regardless of the species name by which they are known. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize the identity of appropriate equivalents.

Strains of these species are readily accessible to the public in a number of culture collections, such as the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH (DSM), Centraalbureau Voor Schimmelcultures (CBS), and Agricultural Research Service Patent Culture Collection, Northern Regional Research Center (NRRL).

Furthermore, such polypeptides may be identified and obtained from other sources including microorganisms isolated from nature (e.g., soil, composts, water, etc.) using the above-mentioned probes. Techniques for isolating microorganisms from natural habitats are well known in the art. The polynucleotide may then be obtained by similarly screening a genomic or cDNA library of such a microorganism. Once a polynucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide has been detected with the probe(s), the polynucleotide can be isolated or cloned by utilizing techniques which are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art (see, e.g., Sambrook et al., 1989, supra).

Polypeptides of the present invention also include fused polypeptides or cleavable fusion polypeptides in which another polypeptide is fused at the N-terminus or the C-terminus of the polypeptide or fragment thereof. A fused polypeptide is produced by fusing a nucleotide sequence (or a portion thereof) encoding another polypeptide to a nucleotide sequence (or a portion thereof) of the present invention. Techniques for producing fusion polypeptides are known in the art, and include ligating the coding sequences encoding the polypeptides so that they are in frame and that expression of the fused polypeptide is under control of the same promoter(s) and terminator.

Polynucleotides

The present invention also relates to isolated polynucleotides having nucleotide sequences which encode polypeptides of the present invention.

In a preferred aspect, the nucleotide sequence is set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1. In another more preferred aspect, the nucleotide sequence is the sequence contained in plasmid pDZA2-7 that is contained in Escherichia coli NRRL B-30704. In another preferred aspect, the nucleotide sequence is the mature polypeptide coding region of SEQ ID NO: 1. In another more preferred aspect, the nucleotide sequence is the mature polypeptide coding region contained in plasmid pDZA2-7 that is contained in Escherichia coli NRRL B-30704. The present invention also encompasses nucleotide sequences which encode a polypeptide having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 or the mature polypeptide thereof, which differ from SEQ ID NO: 1 by virtue of the degeneracy of the genetic code. The present invention also relates to subsequences of SEQ ID NO: 1 that encode fragments of SEQ ID NO: 2 that have cellulolytic enhancing activity.

The present invention also relates to mutant polynucleotides comprising at least one mutation in the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 in which the mutant nucleotide sequence encodes a polypeptide which consists of amino acids 23 to 250 of SEQ ID NO: 2.

The techniques used to isolate or clone a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide are known in the art and include isolation from genomic DNA, preparation from cDNA, or a combination thereof. The cloning of the polynucleotides of the present invention from such genomic DNA can be effected, e.g., by using the well known polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or antibody screening of expression libraries to detect cloned DNA fragments with shared structural features. See, e.g., Innis et al., 1990, PCR: A Guide to Methods and Application, Academic Press, New York. Other nucleic acid amplification procedures such as ligase chain reaction (LCR), ligated activated transcription (LAT) and nucleotide sequence-based amplification (NASBA) may be used. The polynucleotides may be cloned from a strain of Thielavia, or another or related organism and thus, for example, may be an allelic or species variant of the polypeptide encoding region of the nucleotide sequence.

The present invention also relates to polynucleotides having nucleotide sequences which have a degree of identity to the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 (i.e., nucleotides 67 to 796) of at least 70%, preferably at least 75%, more preferably at least 80%, more preferably at least 85%, even more preferably at least 90%, most preferably at least 95%, and even most preferably at least 97%, 98%, or 99% identity, which encode an active polypeptide.

Modification of a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide of the present invention may be necessary for the synthesis of polypeptides substantially similar to the polypeptide. The term “substantially similar” to the polypeptide refers to non-naturally occurring forms of the polypeptide. These polypeptides may differ in some engineered way from the polypeptide isolated from its native source, e.g., artificial variants that differ in specific activity, thermostability, pH optimum, or the like. The variant sequence may be constructed on the basis of the nucleotide sequence presented as the polypeptide encoding region of SEQ ID NO: 1, e.g., a subsequence thereof, and/or by introduction of nucleotide substitutions which do not give rise to another amino acid sequence of the polypeptide encoded by the nucleotide sequence, but which correspond to the codon usage of the host organism intended for production of the enzyme, or by introduction of nucleotide substitutions which may give rise to a different amino acid sequence. For a general description of nucleotide substitution, see, e.g., Ford et al., 1991, Protein Expression and Purification 2: 95-107.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that such substitutions can be made outside the regions critical to the function of the molecule and still result in an active polypeptide. Amino acid residues essential to the activity of the polypeptide encoded by an isolated polynucleotide of the invention, and therefore preferably not subject to substitution, may be identified according to procedures known in the art, such as site-directed mutagenesis or alanine-scanning mutagenesis (see, e.g., Cunningham and Wells, 1989, Science 244: 1081-1085). In the latter technique, mutations are introduced at every positively charged residue in the molecule, and the resultant mutant molecules are tested for cellulolytic enhancing activity to identify amino acid residues that are critical to the activity of the molecule. Sites of substrate-enzyme interaction can also be determined by analysis of the three-dimensional structure as determined by such techniques as nuclear magnetic resonance analysis, crystallography or photoaffinity labeling (see, e.g., de Vos et al., 1992, Science 255: 306-312; Smith et al., 1992, Journal of Molecular Biology 224: 899-904; Wlodaver et al., 1992, FEBS Letters 309: 59-64).

The present invention also relates to isolated polynucleotides encoding a polypeptide of the present invention, which hybridize under very low stringency conditions, preferably low stringency conditions, more preferably medium stringency conditions, more preferably medium-high stringency conditions, even more preferably high stringency conditions, and most preferably very high stringency conditions with (i) nucleotides 67 to 796 of SEQ ID NO: 1, (ii) the cDNA sequence contained in nucleotides 67 to 796 of SEQ ID NO: 1, or (iii) a complementary strand of (i) or (ii); or allelic variants and subsequences thereof (Sambrook et al., 1989, supra), as defined herein.

The present invention also relates to isolated polynucleotides obtained by (a) hybridizing a population of DNA under very low, low, medium, medium-high, high, or very high stringency conditions with (i) nucleotides 67 to 796 of SEQ ID NO: 1, (ii) the cDNA sequence contained in nucleotides 67 to 796 of SEQ ID NO: 1, or (iii) a complementary strand of (i) or (ii); and (b) isolating the hybridizing polynucleotide, which encodes a polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity.

In a preferred aspect, the population of DNA is hybridized under low stringency conditions. In a more preferred aspect, the population of DNA is hybridized under medium stringency conditions. In an even more preferred aspect, the population of DNA is hybridized under medium-high stringency conditions. In a most preferred aspect, the population of DNA is hybridized under high stringency conditions.

Nucleic Acid Constructs

The present invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs comprising an isolated polynucleotide of the present invention operably linked to one or more control sequences that direct the expression of the coding sequence in a suitable host cell under conditions compatible with the control sequences.

An isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide of the present invention may be manipulated in a variety of ways to provide for expression of the polypeptide. Manipulation of the polynucleotide's sequence prior to its insertion into a vector may be desirable or necessary depending on the expression vector. The techniques for modifying polynucleotide sequences utilizing recombinant DNA methods are well known in the art.

The control sequence may be an appropriate promoter sequence, a nucleotide sequence which is recognized by a host cell for expression of a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide of the present invention. The promoter sequence contains transcriptional control sequences which mediate the expression of the polypeptide. The promoter may be any nucleotide sequence which shows transcriptional activity in the host cell of choice including mutant, truncated, and hybrid promoters, and may be obtained from genes encoding extracellular or intracellular polypeptides either homologous or heterologous to the host cell.

Examples of suitable promoters for directing the transcription of the nucleic acid constructs of the present invention, especially in a bacterial host cell, are the promoters obtained from the E. coli lac operon, Streptomyces coelicolor agarase gene (dagA), Bacillus subtilis levansucrase gene (sacB), Bacillus licheniformis alpha-amylase gene (amyL), Bacillus stearothermophilus maltogenic amylase gene (amyM), Bacillus amyloliquefaciens alpha-amylase gene (amyQ), Bacillus licheniformis penicillinase gene (penP), Bacillus subtilis xylA and xylB genes, and prokaryotic beta-lactamase gene (VIIIa-Kamaroff et al., 1978, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 75: 3727-3731), as well as the tac promoter (DeBoer et al., 1983, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 80: 21-25). Further promoters are described in “Useful proteins from recombinant bacteria” in Scientific American, 1980, 242: 74-94; and in Sambrook et al., 1989, supra.

Examples of suitable promoters for directing the transcription of the nucleic acid constructs of the present invention in a filamentous fungal host cell are promoters obtained from the genes for Aspergillus oryzae TAKA amylase, Rhizomucor miehei aspartic proteinase, Aspergillus niger neutral alpha-amylase, Aspergillus niger acid stable alpha-amylase, Aspergillus niger or Aspergillus awamoni glucoamylase (glaA), Rhizomucor miehei lipase, Aspergillus oryzae alkaline protease, Aspergillus oryzae triose phosphate isomerase, Aspergillus nidulans acetamidase, Fusarium venenatum amyloglucosidase (WO 00/56900), Fusarium venenatum Daria (WO 00/56900), Fusarium venenatum Quinn (WO 00/56900), Fusarium oxysporum trypsin-like protease (WO 96/00787), Trichoderma reesei beta-glucosidase, Trichoderma reesei cellobiohydrolase I, Trichoderma reesei cellobiohydrolase II, Trichoderma reesei endoglucanase I, Trichoderma reesei endoglucanase II, Trichoderma reesei endoglucanase III, Trichoderma reesei endoglucanase IV, Trichoderma reesei endoglucanase V, Trichoderma reesei xylanase I, Trichoderma reesei xylanase II, Trichoderma reesei beta-xylosidase, as well as the NA2-tpi promoter (a hybrid of the promoters from the genes for Aspergillus niger neutral alpha-amylase and Aspergillus oryzae triose phosphate isomerase); and mutant, truncated, and hybrid promoters thereof.

In a yeast host, useful promoters are obtained from the genes for Saccharomyces cerevisiae enolase (ENO-1), Saccharomyces cerevisiae galactokinase (GAL1), Saccharomyces cerevisiae alcohol dehydrogenase/glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (ADH1, ADH2/GAP), Saccharomyces cerevisiae triose phosphate isomerase (TPI), Saccharomyces cerevisiae metallothionein (CUP1), and Saccharomyces cerevisiae 3-phosphoglycerate kinase. Other useful promoters for yeast host cells are described by Romanos et al., 1992, Yeast 8: 423-488.

The control sequence may also be a suitable transcription terminator sequence, a sequence recognized by a host cell to terminate transcription. The terminator sequence is operably linked to the 3′ terminus of the nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide. Any terminator which is functional in the host cell of choice may be used in the present invention.

Preferred terminators for filamentous fungal host cells are obtained from the genes for Aspergillus oryzae TAKA amylase, Aspergillus niger glucoamylase, Aspergillus nidulans anthranilate synthase, Aspergillus niger alpha-glucosidase, and Fusarium oxysporum trypsin-like protease.

Preferred terminators for yeast host cells are obtained from the genes for Saccharomyces cerevisiae enolase, Saccharomyces cerevisiae cytochrome C (CYC1), and Saccharomyces cerevisiae glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. Other useful terminators for yeast host cells are described by Romanos et al., 1992, supra.

The control sequence may also be a suitable leader sequence, a nontranslated region of an mRNA which is important for translation by the host cell. The leader sequence is operably linked to the 5′ terminus of the nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide. Any leader sequence that is functional in the host cell of choice may be used in the present invention.

Preferred leaders for filamentous fungal host cells are obtained from the genes for Aspergillus oryzae TAKA amylase and Aspergillus nidulans triose phosphate isomerase.

Suitable leaders for yeast host cells are obtained from the genes for Saccharomyces cerevisiae enolase (ENO-1), Saccharomyces cerevisiae 3-phosphoglycerate kinase, Saccharomyces cerevisiae alpha-factor, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae alcohol dehydrogenase/glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (ADH2/GAP).

The control sequence may also be a polyadenylation sequence, a sequence operably linked to the 3′ terminus of the nucleotide sequence and which, when transcribed, is recognized by the host cell as a signal to add polyadenosine residues to transcribed mRNA. Any polyadenylation sequence which is functional in the host cell of choice may be used in the present invention.

Preferred polyadenylation sequences for filamentous fungal host cells are obtained from the genes for Aspergillus oryzae TAKA amylase, Aspergillus niger glucoamylase, Aspergillus nidulans anthranilate synthase, Fusarium oxysporum trypsin-like protease, and Aspergillus niger alpha-glucosidase.

Useful polyadenylation sequences for yeast host cells are described by Guo and Sherman, 1995, Molecular Cellular Biology 15: 5983-5990.

The control sequence may also be a signal peptide coding region that codes for an amino acid sequence linked to the amino terminus of a polypeptide and directs the encoded polypeptide into the cell's secretory pathway. The 5′ end of the coding sequence of the nucleotide sequence may inherently contain a signal peptide coding region naturally linked in translation reading frame with the segment of the coding region which encodes the secreted polypeptide. Alternatively, the 5′ end of the coding sequence may contain a signal peptide coding region which is foreign to the coding sequence. The foreign signal peptide coding region may be required where the coding sequence does not naturally contain a signal peptide coding region. Alternatively, the foreign signal peptide coding region may simply replace the natural signal peptide coding region in order to enhance secretion of the polypeptide. However, any signal peptide coding region which directs the expressed polypeptide into the secretory pathway of a host cell of choice, i.e., secreted into a culture medium, may be used in the present invention.

Effective signal peptide coding regions for bacterial host cells are the signal peptide coding regions obtained from the genes for Bacillus NCIB 11837 maltogenic amylase, Bacillus stearothermophilus alpha-amylase, Bacillus licheniformis subtilisin, Bacillus licheniformis beta-lactamase, Bacillus stearothermophilus neutral proteases (nprT, nprS, nprM), and Bacillus subtilis prsA. Further signal peptides are described by Simonen and Palva, 1993, Microbiological Reviews 57: 109-137.

Effective signal peptide coding regions for filamentous fungal host cells are the signal peptide coding regions obtained from the genes for Aspergillus oryzae TAKA amylase, Aspergillus niger neutral amylase, Aspergillus niger glucoamylase, Rhizomucor miehei aspartic proteinase, Humicola insolens cellulase, Humicola insolens endoglucanase V, and Humicola lanuginosa lipase.

In a preferred aspect, the signal peptide coding region is nucleotides 1 to 66 of SEQ ID NO: 1 which encode amino acids 1 to 22 of SEQ ID NO: 2.

Useful signal peptides for yeast host cells are obtained from the genes for Saccharomyces cerevisiae alpha-factor and Saccharomyces cerevisiae invertase. Other useful signal peptide coding regions are described by Romanos et al., 1992, supra.

The control sequence may also be a propeptide coding region that codes for an amino acid sequence positioned at the amino terminus of a polypeptide. The resultant polypeptide is known as a proenzyme or propolypeptide (or a zymogen in some cases). A propolypeptide is generally inactive and can be converted to a mature active polypeptide by catalytic or autocatalytic cleavage of the propeptide from the propolypeptide. The propeptide coding region may be obtained from the genes for Bacillus subtilis alkaline protease (aprE), Bacillus subtilis neutral protease (nprT), Saccharomyces cerevisiae alpha-factor, Rhizomucor miehei aspartic proteinase, and Myceliophthora thermophila laccase (WO 95/33836).

Where both signal peptide and propeptide regions are present at the amino terminus of a polypeptide, the propeptide region is positioned next to the amino terminus of a polypeptide and the signal peptide region is positioned next to the amino terminus of the propeptide region.

It may also be desirable to add regulatory sequences which allow the regulation of the expression of the polypeptide relative to the growth of the host cell. Examples of regulatory systems are those which cause the expression of the gene to be turned on or off in response to a chemical or physical stimulus, including the presence of a regulatory compound. Regulatory systems in prokaryotic systems include the lac, tac, and trp operator systems. In yeast, the ADH2 system or GAL1 system may be used. In filamentous fungi, the TAKA alpha-amylase promoter, Aspergillus niger glucoamylase promoter, and Aspergillus oryzae glucoamylase promoter may be used as regulatory sequences. Other examples of regulatory sequences are those which allow for gene amplification. In eukaryotic systems, these include the dihydrofolate reductase gene which is amplified in the presence of methotrexate, and the metallothionein genes which are amplified with heavy metals. In these cases, the nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide would be operably linked with the regulatory sequence.

Expression Vectors

The present invention also relates to recombinant expression vectors comprising a polynucleotide of the present invention, a promoter, and transcriptional and translational stop signals. The various nucleic acids and control sequences described herein may be joined together to produce a recombinant expression vector which may include one or more convenient restriction sites to allow for insertion or substitution of the nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide at such sites. Alternatively, a nucleotide sequence of the present invention may be expressed by inserting the nucleotide sequence or a nucleic acid construct comprising the sequence into an appropriate vector for expression. In creating the expression vector, the coding sequence is located in the vector so that the coding sequence is operably linked with the appropriate control sequences for expression.

The recombinant expression vector may be any vector (e.g., a plasmid or virus) which can be conveniently subjected to recombinant DNA procedures and can bring about expression of the nucleotide sequence. The choice of the vector will typically depend on the compatibility of the vector with the host cell into which the vector is to be introduced. The vectors may be linear or closed circular plasmids.

The vector may be an autonomously replicating vector, i.e., a vector which exists as an extrachromosomal entity, the replication of which is independent of chromosomal replication, e.g., a plasmid, an extrachromosomal element, a minichromosome, or an artificial chromosome. The vector may contain any means for assuring self-replication. Alternatively, the vector may be one which, when introduced into the host cell, is integrated into the genome and replicated together with the chromosome(s) into which it has been integrated. Furthermore, a single vector or plasmid or two or more vectors or plasmids which together contain the total DNA to be introduced into the genome of the host cell, or a transposon may be used.

The vectors of the present invention preferably contain one or more selectable markers which permit easy selection of transformed, transfected, transduced, or the like cells. A selectable marker is a gene the product of which provides for biocide or viral resistance, resistance to heavy metals, prototrophy to auxotrophs, and the like.

Examples of bacterial selectable markers are the daI genes from Bacillus subtilis or Bacillus licheniformis, or markers which confer antibiotic resistance such as ampicillin, kanamycin, chloramphenicol, or tetracycline resistance. Suitable markers for yeast host cells are ADE2, HIS3, LEU2, LYS2, MET3, TRP1, and URA3. Selectable markers for use in a filamentous fungal host cell include, but are not limited to, amdS (acetamidase), argB (ornithine carbamoyltransferase), bar (phosphinothricin acetyltransferase), hph (hygromycin phosphotransferase), niaD (nitrate reductase), pyrG (orotidine-5′-phosphate decarboxylase), sC (sulfate adenyltransferase), and trpC (anthranilate synthase), as well as equivalents thereof. Preferred for use in an Aspergillus cell are the amdS and pyrG genes of Aspergillus nidulans or Aspergillus oryzae and the bar gene of Streptomyces hygroscopicus.

The vectors of the present invention preferably contain an element(s) that permits integration of the vector into the host cell's genome or autonomous replication of the vector in the cell independent of the genome.

For integration into the host cell genome, the vector may rely on the polynucleotide's sequence encoding the polypeptide or any other element of the vector for integration into the genome by homologous or nonhomologous recombination. Alternatively, the vector may contain additional nucleotide sequences for directing integration by homologous recombination into the genome of the host cell at a precise location(s) in the chromosome(s). To increase the likelihood of integration at a precise location, the integrational elements should preferably contain a sufficient number of nucleic acids, such as 100 to 10,000 base pairs, preferably 400 to 10,000 base pairs, and most preferably 800 to 10,000 base pairs, which have a high degree of identity with the corresponding target sequence to enhance the probability of homologous recombination. The integrational elements may be any sequence that is homologous with the target sequence in the genome of the host cell. Furthermore, the integrational elements may be non-encoding or encoding nucleotide sequences. On the other hand, the vector may be integrated into the genome of the host cell by non-homologous recombination.

For autonomous replication, the vector may further comprise an origin of replication enabling the vector to replicate autonomously in the host cell in question. The origin of replication may be any plasmid replicator mediating autonomous replication which functions in a cell. The term “origin of replication” or “plasmid replicator” is defined herein as a nucleotide sequence that enables a plasmid or vector to replicate in vivo.

Examples of bacterial origins of replication are the origins of replication of plasmids pBR322, pUC19, pACYC177, and pACYC184 permitting replication in E. coli, and pUB110, pE194, pTA1060, and pAMβ1 permitting replication in Bacillus.

Examples of origins of replication for use in a yeast host cell are the 2 micron origin of replication, ARS1, ARS4, the combination of ARS1 and CEN3, and the combination of ARS4 and CEN6.

Examples of origins of replication useful in a filamentous fungal cell are AMA1 and ANS1 (Gems et al., 1991, Gene 98: 61-67; Cullen et al., 1987, Nucleic Acids Research 15: 9163-9175; WO 00/24883). Isolation of the AMA1 gene and construction of plasmids or vectors comprising the gene can be accomplished according to the methods disclosed in WO 00/24883.

More than one copy of a polynucleotide of the present invention may be inserted into the host cell to increase production of the gene product. An increase in the copy number of the polynucleotide can be obtained by integrating at least one additional copy of the sequence into the host cell genome or by including an amplifiable selectable marker gene with the polynucleotide where cells containing amplified copies of the selectable marker gene, and thereby additional copies of the polynucleotide, can be selected for by cultivating the cells in the presence of the appropriate selectable agent.

The procedures used to ligate the elements described above to construct the recombinant expression vectors of the present invention are well known to one skilled in the art (see, e.g., Sambrook et al., 1989, supra).

Host Cells

The present invention also relates to recombinant host cells, comprising a polynucleotide of the present invention, which are advantageously used in the recombinant production of the polypeptides. A vector comprising a polynucleotide of the present invention is introduced into a host cell so that the vector is maintained as a chromosomal integrant or as a self-replicating extra-chromosomal vector as described earlier. The term “host cell” encompasses any progeny of a parent cell that is not identical to the parent cell due to mutations that occur during replication. The choice of a host cell will to a large extent depend upon the gene encoding the polypeptide and its source.

The host cell may be a unicellular microorganism, e.g., a prokaryote, or a non-unicellular microorganism, e.g., a eukaryote.

Useful unicellular microorganisms are bacterial cells such as gram positive bacteria including, but not limited to, a Bacillus cell, e.g., Bacillus alkalophilus, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Bacillus brevis, Bacillus circulans, Bacillus clausii, Bacillus coagulans, Bacillus lautus, Bacillus lentus, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus stearothermophilus, Bacillus subtilis, and Bacillus thuringiensis; or a Streptomyces cell, e.g., Streptomyces lividans and Streptomyces murinus, or gram negative bacteria such as E. coli and Pseudomonas sp. In a preferred aspect, the bacterial host cell is a Bacillus lentus, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus stearothermophilus, or Bacillus subtilis cell. In another preferred aspect, the Bacillus cell is an alkalophilic Bacillus.

The introduction of a vector into a bacterial host cell may, for instance, be effected by protoplast transformation (see, e.g., Chang and Cohen, 1979, Molecular General Genetics 168: 111-115), using competent cells (see, e.g., Young and Spizizen, 1961, Journal of Bacteriology 81: 823-829, or Dubnau and Davidoff-Abelson, 1971, Journal of Molecular Biology 56: 209-221), electroporation (see, e.g., Shigekawa and Dower, 1988, Biotechniques 6: 742-751), or conjugation (see, e.g., Koehler and Thorne, 1987, Journal of Bacteriology 169: 5771-5278).

The host cell may also be a eukaryote, such as a mammalian, insect, plant, or fungal cell.

In a preferred aspect, the host cell is a fungal cell. “Fungi” as used herein includes the phyla Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Chytridiomycota, and Zygomycota (as defined by Hawksworth et al., In, Ainsworth and Bisby's Dictionary of The Fungi, 8th edition, 1995, CAB International, University Press, Cambridge, UK) as well as the Oomycota (as cited in Hawksworth et al., 1995, supra, page 171) and all mitosporic fungi (Hawksworth et al., 1995, supra).

In a more preferred aspect, the fungal host cell is a yeast cell. “Yeast” as used herein includes ascosporogenous yeast (Endomycetales), basidiosporogenous yeast, and yeast belonging to the Fungi Imperfecti (Blastomycetes). Since the classification of yeast may change in the future, for the purposes of this invention, yeast shall be defined as described in Biology and Activities of Yeast (Skinner, F. A., Passmore, S. M., and Davenport, R. R., eds, Soc. App. Bacteriol. Symposium Series No. 9, 1980).

In an even more preferred aspect, the yeast host cell is a Candida, Hansenula, Kluyveromyces, Pichia, Saccharomyces, Schizosaccharomyces, or Yarrowia cell.

In a most preferred aspect, the yeast host cell is a Saccharomyces carisbergensis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces diastaticus, Saccharomyces douglasii, Saccharomyces kluyveri, Saccharomyces norbensis, or Saccharomyces oviformis cell. In another most preferred aspect, the yeast host cell is a Kluyveromyces lactis cell. In another most preferred aspect, the yeast host cell is a Yarrowia lipolytica cell.

In another more preferred aspect, the fungal host cell is a filamentous fungal cell. “Filamentous fungi” include all filamentous forms of the subdivision Eumycota and Oomycota (as defined by Hawksworth et al., 1995, supra). The filamentous fungi are generally characterized by a mycelial wall composed of chitin, cellulose, glucan, chitosan, mannan, and other complex polysaccharides. Vegetative growth is by hyphal elongation and carbon catabolism is obligately aerobic. In contrast, vegetative growth by yeasts such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae is by budding of a unicellular thallus and carbon catabolism may be fermentative.

In an even more preferred aspect, the filamentous fungal host cell is an Acremonium, Aspergillus, Aureobasidium, Bjerifandera, Ceriporiopsis, Coprinus, Coriolus, Cryptococcus, Filibasidium, Fusarium, Humicola, Magnaporthe, Mucor, Myceliophthora, Neocallimastix, Neurospora, Paecilomyces, Penicillium, Phanerochaete, Phlebia, Piromyces, Pleurotus, Schizophyllum, Talaromyces, Thermoascus, Thielavia, Tolypociadium, Trametes, or Trichoderma cell.

In a most preferred aspect, the filamentous fungal host cell is an Aspergillus awamori, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus foetidus, Aspergillus japonicus, Aspergillus nidulans, Aspergillus niger or Aspergillus oryzae cell. In another most preferred aspect, the filamentous fungal host cell is a Fusarium bactridioides, Fusarium cerealis, Fusarium crookwellense, Fusarium culmorum, Fusarium graminearum, Fusarium graminum, Fusarium heterosporum, Fusarium negundi, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium reticulatum, Fusarium roseum, Fusarium sambucinum, Fusarium sarcochroum, Fusarium sporotrichioides, Fusarium sulphureum, Fusarium torulosum, Fusarium trichothecioides, or Fusarium venenatum cell. In another most preferred aspect, the filamentous fungal host cell is a Bjerkandera adusta, Ceriporiopsis aneirina, Ceriporiopsis aneirina, Ceriporiopsis caregiea, Ceriporiopsis gilvescens, Ceriporiopsis pannocinta, Ceriporiopsis rivulosa, Ceriporiopsis subrufa, Ceriporiopsis subvermispora, Coprinus cinereus, Coriolus hirsutus, Humicola insolens, Humicola lanuginosa, Mucor miehei, Myceliophthora thermophila, Neurospora crassa, Penicillium purpurogenum, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Phlebia radiata, Pleurotus eryngii, Thielavia terrestris, Trametes villosa, Trametes versicolor, Trichoderma harzianum, Trichoderma koningii, Trichoderma longibrachiatum, Trichoderma reesei, or Trichoderma viride cell.

Fungal cells may be transformed by a process involving protoplast formation, transformation of the protoplasts, and regeneration of the cell wall in a manner known per se. Suitable procedures for transformation of Aspergillus and Trichoderma host cells are described in EP 238 023 and Yelton et al., 1984, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 81: 1470-1474. Suitable methods for transforming Fusanum species are described by Malardier et al., 1989, Gene 78: 147-156, and WO 96/00787. Yeast may be transformed using the procedures described by Becker and Guarente, In Abelson, J. N. and Simon, M. I., editors, Guide to Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology, Methods in Enzymology, Volume 194, pp 182-187, Academic Press, Inc., New York; Ito et al., 1983, Journal of Bacteriology 153: 163; and Hinnen et al., 1978, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 75:1920.

Methods of Production

The present invention also relates to methods for producing a polypeptide of the present invention, comprising: (a) cultivating a cell, which in its wild-type form is capable of producing the polypeptide, under conditions conducive for production of the polypeptide; and (b) recovering the polypeptide. Preferably, the cell is of the genus Thermoascus, and more preferably Thermoascus aurantiacus.

The present invention also relates to methods for producing a polypeptide of the present invention, comprising: (a) cultivating a host cell under conditions conducive for production of the polypeptide; and (b) recovering the polypeptide.

The present invention also relates to methods for producing a polypeptide of the present invention, comprising: (a) cultivating a host cell under conditions conducive for production of the polypeptide, wherein the host cell comprises a mutant nucleotide sequence having at least one mutation in the mature polypeptide coding region of SEQ ID NO: 1, wherein the mutant nucleotide sequence encodes a polypeptide which consists of amino acids 23 to 250 of SEQ ID NO: 2, and (b) recovering the polypeptide.

In the production methods of the present invention, the cells are cultivated in a nutrient medium suitable for production of the polypeptide using methods well known in the art. For example, the cell may be cultivated by shake flask cultivation, and small-scale or large-scale fermentation (including continuous, batch, fed-batch, or solid state fermentations) in laboratory or industrial fermentors performed in a suitable medium and under conditions allowing the polypeptide to be expressed and/or isolated. The cultivation takes place in a suitable nutrient medium comprising carbon and nitrogen sources and inorganic salts, using procedures known in the art. Suitable media are available from commercial suppliers or may be prepared according to published compositions (e.g., in catalogues of the American Type Culture Collection). If the polypeptide is secreted into the nutrient medium, the polypeptide can be recovered directly from the medium. If the polypeptide is not secreted into the medium, it can be recovered from cell lysates.

The polypeptides having cellulolytic enhancing activity are detected using the methods described herein.

The resulting polypeptide may be recovered using methods known in the art. For example, the polypeptide may be recovered from the nutrient medium by conventional procedures including, but not limited to, centrifugation, filtration, extraction, spray-drying, evaporation, or precipitation.

The polypeptides of the present invention may be purified by a variety of procedures known in the art including, but not limited to, chromatography (e.g., ion exchange, affinity, hydrophobic, chromatofocusing, and size exclusion), electrophoretic procedures (e.g., preparative isoelectric focusing), differential solubility (e.g., ammonium sulfate precipitation), SDS-PAGE, or extraction (see, e.g., Protein Purification, J.-C. Janson and Lars Ryden, editors, VCH Publishers, New York, 1989) to obtain substantially pure polypeptides.

Plants

The present invention also relates to a transgenic plant, plant part, or plant cell which has been transformed with a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity of the present invention so as to express and produce the polypeptide in recoverable quantities. The polypeptide may be recovered from the plant or plant part. Alternatively, the plant or plant part containing the recombinant polypeptide may be used as such for improving the quality of a food or feed, e.g., improving nutritional value, palatability, and rheological properties, or to destroy an antinutritive factor.

The transgenic plant can be dicotyledonous (a dicot) or monocotyledonous (a monocot). Examples of monocot plants are grasses, such as meadow grass (blue grass, Poa), forage grass such as Festuca, Lolium, temperate grass, such as Agrostis, and cereals, e.g., wheat, oats, rye, barley, rice, sorghum, and maize (corn).

Examples of dicot plants are tobacco, legumes, such as lupins, potato, sugar beet, pea, bean and soybean, and cruciferous plants (family Brassicaceae), such as cauliflower, rape seed, and the closely related model organism Arabidopsis thaliana.

Examples of plant parts are stem, callus, leaves, root, fruits, seeds, and tubers as well as the individual tissues comprising these parts, e.g., epidermis, mesophyll, parenchyme, vascular tissues, meristems. Specific plant cell compartments, such as chloroplasts, apoplasts, mitochondria, vacuoles, peroxisomes and cytoplasm are also considered to be a plant part. Furthermore, any plant cell, whatever the tissue origin, is considered to be a plant part. Likewise, plant parts such as specific tissues and cells isolated to facilitate the utilisation of the invention are also considered plant parts, e.g., embryos, endosperms, aleurone and seeds coats.

Also included within the scope of the present invention are the progeny of such plants, plant parts, and plant cells.

The transgenic plant or plant cell expressing a polypeptide of the present invention may be constructed in accordance with methods known in the art. In short, the plant or plant cell is constructed by incorporating one or more expression constructs encoding a polypeptide of the present invention into the plant host genome or chloroplast genome and propagating the resulting modified plant or plant cell into a transgenic plant or plant cell.

The expression construct is conveniently a nucleic acid construct which comprises a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide of the present invention operably linked with appropriate regulatory sequences required for expression of the nucleotide sequence in the plant or plant part of choice. Furthermore, the expression construct may comprise a selectable marker useful for identifying host cells into which the expression construct has been integrated and DNA sequences necessary for introduction of the construct into the plant in question (the latter depends on the DNA introduction method to be used).

The choice of regulatory sequences, such as promoter and terminator sequences and optionally signal or transit sequences is determined, for example, on the basis of when, where, and how the polypeptide is desired to be expressed. For instance, the expression of the gene encoding a polypeptide of the present invention may be constitutive or inducible, or may be developmental, stage or tissue specific, and the gene product may be targeted to a specific tissue or plant part such as seeds or leaves. Regulatory sequences are, for example, described by Tague et al., 1988, Plant Physiology 86: 506.

For constitutive expression, the 35S-CaMV, the maize ubiquitin 1, and the rice actin 1 promoter may be used (Franck et al., 1980, Cell 21: 285-294, Christensen et al., 1992, Plant Mo. Biol. 18: 675-689; Zhang et al., 1991, Plant Cell 3: 1155-1165). Organ-specific promoters may be, for example, a promoter from storage sink tissues such as seeds, potato tubers, and fruits (Edwards & Coruzzi, 1990, Ann. Rev. Genet. 24: 275-303), or from metabolic sink tissues such as meristems (Ito et al., 1994, Plant Mol. Biol. 24: 863-878), a seed specific promoter such as the glutelin, prolamin, globulin, or albumin promoter from rice (Wu et al., 1998, Plant and Cell Physiology 39: 885-889), a Vicia faba promoter from the legumin B4 and the unknown seed protein gene from Vicia faba (Conrad et al., 1998, Journal of Plant Physiology 152: 708-711), a promoter from a seed oil body protein (Chen et al., 1998, Plant and Cell Physiology 39: 935-941), the storage protein napA promoter from Brassica napus, or any other seed specific promoter known in the art, e.g., as described in WO 91/14772. Furthermore, the promoter may be a leaf specific promoter such as the rbcs promoter from rice or tomato (Kyozuka et al., 1993, Plant Physiology 102: 991-1000, the chlorella virus adenine methyltransferase gene promoter (Mitra and Higgins, 1994, Plant Molecular Biology 26: 85-93), or the aldP gene promoter from rice (Kagaya et al., 1995, Molecular and General Genetics 248: 668-674), or a wound inducible promoter such as the potato pin2 promoter (Xu et al., 1993, Plant Molecular Biology 22: 573-588). Likewise, the promoter may inducible by abiotic treatments such as temperature, drought, or alterations in salinity or induced by exogenously applied substances that activate the promoter, e.g., ethanol, oestrogens, plant hormones such as ethylene, abscisic acid, and gibberellic acid, and heavy metals.

A promoter enhancer element may also be used to achieve higher expression of a polypeptide of the present invention in the plant. For instance, the promoter enhancer element may be an intron which is placed between the promoter and the nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide of the present invention. For instance, Xu et al., 1993, supra, disclose the use of the first intron of the rice actin 1 gene to enhance expression.

The selectable marker gene and any other parts of the expression construct may be chosen from those available in the art.

The nucleic acid construct is incorporated into the plant genome according to conventional techniques known in the art, including Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, virus-mediated transformation, microinjection, particle bombardment, biolistic transformation, and electroporation (Gasser et al., 1990, Science 244: 1293; Potrykus, 1990, Bio/Technology 8: 535; Shimamoto at al., 1989, Nature 338: 274).

Presently, Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated gene transfer is the method of choice for generating transgenic dicots (for a review, see Hooykas and Schilperoort, 1992, Plant Molecular Biology 19: 15-38) and can also be used for transforming monocots, although other transformation methods are often used for these plants. Presently, the method of choice for generating transgenic monocots is particle bombardment (microscopic gold or tungsten particles coated with the transforming DNA) of embryonic calli or developing embryos (Christou, 1992, Plant Journal 2: 275-281; Shimamoto, 1994, Current Opinion Biotechnology 5: 158-162; Vasil et al., 1992, Bio/Technology 10: 667-674). An alternative method for transformation of monocots is based on protoplast transformation as described by Omirulleh et al., 1993, Plant Molecular Biology 21: 415-428.

Following transformation, the transformants having incorporated the expression construct are selected and regenerated into whole plants according to methods well-known in the art. Often the transformation procedure is designed for the selective elimination of selection genes either during regeneration or in the following generations by using, for example, co-transformation with two separate T-DNA constructs or site specific excision of the selection gene by a specific recombinase.

The present invention also relates to methods for producing a polypeptide of the present invention comprising: (a) cultivating a transgenic plant or a plant cell comprising a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity of the present invention under conditions conducive for production of the polypeptide; and (b) recovering the polypeptide.

Removal or Reduction of Cellulolytic Enhancing Activity

The present invention also relates to methods for producing a mutant of a parent cell, which comprises disrupting or deleting a polynucleotide sequence, or a portion thereof, encoding a polypeptide of the present invention, which results in the mutant cell producing less of the polypeptide than the parent cell when cultivated under the same conditions.

The mutant cell may be constructed by reducing or eliminating expression of a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide of the present invention using methods well known in the art, for example, insertions, disruptions, replacements, or deletions. In a preferred aspect, the nucleotide sequence is inactivated. The nucleotide sequence to be modified or inactivated may be, for example, the coding region or a part thereof essential for activity, or a regulatory element required for the expression of the coding region. An example of such a regulatory or control sequence may be a promoter sequence or a functional part thereof, i.e., a part that is sufficient for affecting expression of the nucleotide sequence. Other control sequences for possible modification include, but are not limited to, a leader, polyadenylation sequence, propeptide sequence, signal peptide sequence, transcription terminator, and transcriptional activator.

Modification or inactivation of the nucleotide sequence may be performed by subjecting the parent cell to mutagenesis and selecting for mutant cells in which expression of the nucleotide sequence has been reduced or eliminated. The mutagenesis, which may be specific or random, may be performed, for example, by use of a suitable physical or chemical mutagenizing agent, by use of a suitable oligonucleotide, or by subjecting the DNA sequence to PCR generated mutagenesis. Furthermore, the mutagenesis may be performed by use of any combination of these mutagenizing agents.

Examples of a physical or chemical mutagenizing agent suitable for the present purpose include ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, hydroxylamine, N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG), O-methyl hydroxylamine, nitrous acid, ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS), sodium bisulphite, formic acid, and nucleotide analogues.

When such agents are used, the mutagenesis is typically performed by incubating the parent cell to be mutagenized in the presence of the mutagenizing agent of choice under suitable conditions, and screening and/or selecting for mutant cells exhibiting reduced or no expression of the gene.

Modification or inactivation of the nucleotide sequence may be accomplished by introduction, substitution, or removal of one or more nucleotides in the gene or a regulatory element required for the transcription or translation thereof. For example, nucleotides may be inserted or removed so as to result in the introduction of a stop codon, the removal of the start codon, or a change in the open reading frame. Such modification or inactivation may be accomplished by site-directed mutagenesis or PCR generated mutagenesis in accordance with methods known in the art. Although, in principle, the modification may be performed in vivo, i.e., directly on the cell expressing the nucleotide sequence to be modified, it is preferred that the modification be performed in vitro as exemplified below.

An example of a convenient way to eliminate or reduce expression of a nucleotide sequence by a cell is based on techniques of gene replacement, gene deletion, or gene disruption. For example, in the gene disruption method, a nucleic acid sequence corresponding to the endogenous nucleotide sequence is mutagenized in vitro to produce a defective nucleic acid sequence which is then transformed into the parent cell to produce a defective gene. By homologous recombination, the defective nucleic acid sequence replaces the endogenous nucleotide sequence. It may be desirable that the defective nucleotide sequence also encodes a marker that may be used for selection of transformants in which the nucleotide sequence has been modified or destroyed. In a particularly preferred aspect, the nucleotide sequence is disrupted with a selectable marker such as those described herein.

Alternatively, modification or inactivation of the nucleotide sequence may be performed by established anti-sense or RNAi techniques using a sequence complementary to the nucleotide sequence. More specifically, expression of the nucleotide sequence by a cell may be reduced or eliminated by introducing a sequence complementary to the nucleotide sequence of the gene that may be transcribed in the cell and is capable of hybridizing to the mRNA produced in the cell. Under conditions allowing the complementary anti-sense nucleotide sequence to hybridize to the mRNA, the amount of protein translated is thus reduced or eliminated.

The present invention further relates to a mutant cell of a parent cell which comprises a disruption or deletion of a nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide or a control sequence thereof, which results in the mutant cell producing less of the polypeptide or no polypeptide compared to the parent cell.

The polypeptide-deficient mutant cells so created are particularly useful as host cells for the expression of native and/or heterologous proteins. Therefore, the present invention further relates to methods for producing a native or heterologous protein comprising: (a) cultivating the mutant cell under conditions conducive for production of the protein; and (b) recovering the polypeptide. The term “heterologous proteins” is defined herein as proteins which are not native to the host cell, a native protein in which modifications have been made to alter the native sequence, or a native protein whose expression is quantitatively altered as a result of a manipulation of the host cell by recombinant DNA techniques.

In a further aspect, the present invention relates to a method for producing a protein product essentially free of cellulolytic enhancing activity by fermentation of a cell which produces both a polypeptide of the present invention as well as the protein product of interest by adding an effective amount of an agent capable of inhibiting cellulolytic enhancing activity to the fermentation broth before, during, or after the fermentation has been completed, recovering the product of interest from the fermentation broth, and optionally subjecting the recovered product to further purification.

In a further aspect, the present invention relates to a method for producing a protein product essentially free of cellulolytic enhancing activity by cultivating the cell under conditions permitting the expression of the product, subjecting the resultant culture broth to a combined pH and temperature treatment so as to reduce the cellulolytic enhancing activity substantially, and recovering the product from the culture broth. Alternatively, the combined pH and temperature treatment may be performed on an enzyme preparation recovered from the culture broth. The combined pH and temperature treatment may optionally be used in combination with a treatment with a cellulolytic enhancing inhibitor.

In accordance with this aspect of the invention, it is possible to remove at least 60%, preferably at least 75%, more preferably at least 85%, still more preferably at least 95%, and most preferably at least 99% of the cellulolytic enhancing activity. Complete removal of cellulolytic enhancing activity may be obtained by use of this method.

The combined pH and temperature treatment is preferably carried out at a pH of 4-5 and a temperature of 80-90° C. for a sufficient period of time to attain the desired effect.

The methods used for cultivation and purification of the product of interest may be performed by methods known in the art.

The methods of the present invention for producing an essentially cellulolytic enhancing-free product are of particular interest in the production of eukaryotic polypeptides, in particular fungal proteins such as enzymes. The enzyme may be selected from, e.g., an amylolytic enzyme, lipolytic enzyme, proteolytic enzyme, cellulytic enzyme, oxidoreductase, or plant cell-wall degrading enzyme. Examples of such enzymes include an aminopeptidase, amylase, amyloglucosidase, carbohydrase, carboxypeptidase, catalase, cellobiohydrolase, cellulase, chitinase, cutinase, cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase, deoxyribonuclease, endoglucanase, esterase, galactosidase, beta-galactosidase, glucoamylase, glucose oxidase, alpha- or beta-glucosidase, haloperoxidase, hemicellulase, invertase, isomerase, laccase, ligase, lipase, lyase, mannosidase, oxidase, pectinolytic enzyme, peroxidase, phytase, phenoloxidase, polyphenoloxidase, proteolytic enzyme, ribonuclease, transferase, transglutaminase, or xylanase. The cellulolytic enhancing-deficient cells may also be used to express heterologous proteins of pharmaceutical interest such as hormones, growth factors, receptors, and the like.

It will be understood that the term “eukaryotic polypeptides” includes not only native polypeptides, but also those polypeptides, e.g., enzymes, which have been modified by amino acid substitutions, deletions or additions, or other such modifications to enhance activity, thermostability, pH tolerance and the like.

In a further aspect, the present invention relates to a protein product essentially free from cellulolytic enhancing activity which is produced by a method of the present invention.

Compositions

The present invention also relates to compositions comprising a polypeptide of the present invention. Preferably, the compositions are enriched in such a polypeptide. The term “enriched” indicates that the cellulolytic enhancing activity of the composition has been increased, e.g., with an enrichment factor of at least 1.1.

The composition may comprise a polypeptide of the present invention as the major component, e.g., a mono-component composition. Alternatively, the composition may further comprise one or more enzymatic activities, such as an aminopeptidase, amylase, carbohydrase, carboxypeptidase, catalase, cellobiohydrolase, cellulase, chitinase, cutinase, cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase, deoxyribonuclease, endoglucanase, esterase, alpha-galactosidase, beta-galactosidase, glucoamylase, alpha-glucosidase, beta-glucosidase, haloperoxidase, invertase, laccase, lipase, mannosidase, oxidase, pectinolytic enzyme, peptidoglutaminase, peroxidase, phytase, polyphenoloxidase, proteolytic enzyme, ribonuclease, transglutaminase, or xylanase. The additional enzyme(s) may be produced, for example, by a microorganism belonging to the genus Aspergillus, preferably Aspergillus aculeatus, Aspergillus awamori, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus foetidus, Aspergillus japonicus, Aspergillus nidulans, Aspergillus niger, or Aspergillus oryzae; Fusarium, preferably Fusarium bactridioides, Fusarium cerealis, Fusarium crookwellense, Fusarium culmorum, Fusarium graminearum, Fusarium graminum, Fusarium heterosporum, Fusarium negundi, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium reticulatum, Fusarium roseum, Fusarium sambucinum, Fusanum sarcochroum, Fusarium sulphureum, Fusarium toruloseum, Fusarium trichothecioides, or Fusarium venenatum; Humicola, preferably Humicola insolens or Humicola lanuginosa; or Trichoderma, preferably Trichoderma hatzianum, Trichoderma koningii, Trichoderma longibrachiatum, Trichoderma reesei, or Trichoderma viride.

The polypeptide compositions may be prepared in accordance with methods known in the art and may be in the form of a liquid or a dry composition. For instance, the polypeptide composition may be in the form of a granulate or a microgranulate. The polypeptide to be included in the composition may be stabilized in accordance with methods known in the art.

Examples are given below of preferred uses of the polypeptide compositions of the invention. The dosage of the polypeptide composition of the invention and other conditions under which the composition is used may be determined on the basis of methods known in the art.

Degradation or Conversion of Biomass to Monosaccharides, Disaccharides, and Polysaccharides

The present invention also relates to methods for degrading or converting a cellulosic material, comprising: treating the cellulosic material with an effective amount of a cellulolytic protein in the presence of an effective amount of the polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity, wherein the presence of the polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity increases the degradation or conversion of cellulosic material compared to the absence of the polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity.

The polypeptides and host cells of the present invention may be used in the production of monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides as chemical or fermentation feedstocks from biomass for the production of ethanol, plastics, other products or intermediates. In particular, the polypeptides and host cells of the present invention may be used to increase the value of processing residues (dried distillers grain, spent grains from brewing, sugarcane bagasse, etc.) by partial or complete solubilization of cellulose or hemicellulose. In boosting the processing by cellulolytic proteins of cellulosic material to glucose, xylose, mannose, galactose, and arabinose, their polymers, or products derived from them as described below. The polypeptides may be in the form of a crude fermentation broth with or without the cells or in the form of a semi-purified or purified enzyme preparation. The cellulolytic enhancing protein may be a monocomponent preparation, e.g., a Family 61 protein, a multicomponent protein preparation, e.g., a number of Family 61 proteins or a combination of multicomponent and monocomponent protein preparations. The cellulolytic enhancing proteins may boost the activity of cellulolytic proteins, either in the acid, neutral, or alkaline pH-range. Alternatively, a host cell of the present invention may be used as a source of the polypeptide in a fermentation process with the biomass. The host cell may also contain native or heterologous genes that encode cellulolytic protein as well as other enzymes useful in the processing of biomass.

Biomass can include, but is not limited to, wood resources, municipal solid waste, wastepaper, crops, and crop residues (see, for example, Wiselogel et al., 1995, in Handbook on Bioethanol (Charles E. Wyman, editor), pp. 105-118, Taylor & Francis, Washington D.C.; Wyman, 1994, Bioresource Technology 50: 3-16; Lynd, 1990, Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology 24/25: 695-719; Mosier et al., 1999, Recent Progress in Bioconversion of Lignocellulosics, in Advances in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology, T. Scheper, managing editor, Volume 65, pp. 23-40, Springer-Verlag, New York).

The predominant polysaccharide in the primary cell wall of biomass is cellulose, the second most abundant is hemi-cellulose, and the third is pectin. The secondary cell wall, produced after the cell has stopped growing, also contains polysaccharides and is strengthened by polymeric lignin covalently cross-linked to hemicellulose. Cellulose is a homopolymer of anhydrocellobiose and thus a linear beta-(1-4)-D-glucan, while hemicelluloses include a variety of compounds, such as xylans, xyloglucans, arabinoxylans, and mannans in complex branched structures with a spectrum of substituents. Although generally polymorphous, cellulose is found in plant tissue primarily as an insoluble crystalline matrix of parallel glucan chains. Hemicelluloses usually hydrogen bond to cellulose, as well as to other hemicelluloses, which help stabilize the cell wall matrix.

In the methods of the present invention, the cellulolytic protein may be any protein involved in the processing of cellulosic material to glucose, or hemicellulose to xylose, mannose, galactose, and arabinose, their polymers, or products derived from them as described below. The cellulolytic protein may be a monocomponent preparation, e.g., a cellulase, a multicomponent preparation, e.g., endoglucanase, cellobiohydrolase, glucohydrolase, beta-glucosidase, as defined below or a combination of multicomponent and monocomponent protein preparations. The cellulolytic proteins may have activity, i.e., hydrolyze cellulose, either in the acid, neutral, or alkaline pH-range.

The cellulolytic protein may be of fungal or bacterial origin, which may be obtainable or isolated and purified from microorganisms which are known to be capable of producing cellulolytic enzymes, e.g., species of Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Humicola, Coprinus, Thielavia, Fusarium, Myceliophthora, Acremonium, Cephalosporium, Scytalidium, Penicillium or Aspergillus (see, for example, EP 458162), especially those produced by a strain selected from the species Humicola insolens (reclassified as Scytalidium thermophilum, see for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,307), Coprinus cinereus, Fusarium oxysporum, Myceliophthora thermophila, Meripilus giganteus, Thielavia terrestns, Acremonium sp., Acremonium persicinum, Acremonium acremonium, Acremonium brachypenium, Acremonium dichromosporum, Acremonium obclavatum, Acremonium pinkertoniae, Acremonium roseogriseum, Acremonium incoloratum, and Acremonium furatum; preferably from the species Humicola insolens DSM 1800, Fusarium oxysporum DSM 2672, Myceliophthora thermophila CBS 117.65, Cephalosporium sp. RYM-202, Acremonium sp. CBS 478.94, Acremonium sp. CBS 265.95, Acremonium persicinum CBS 169.65, Acremonium acremonium AHU 9519, Cephalosporium sp. CBS 535.71, Acremonium brachypenium CBS 866.73, Acremonium dichromosporum CBS 683.73, Acremonium obclavatum CBS 311.74, Acremonium pinkertoniae CBS 157.70, Acremonium roseogriseum CBS 134.56, Acremonium incoloratum CBS 146.62, and Acremonium furatum CBS 299.70H. Cellulolytic proteins may also be obtained from Trichoderma (particularly Trichoderma viride, Trichoderma reesei, and Trichoderma koningii), alkalophilic Bacillus (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,844,890 and EP 458162), and Streptomyces (see, for example, EP 458162). Chemically modified or protein engineered mutants are included.

Especially suitable cellulolytic proteins are the alkaline or neutral cellulases. Examples of such cellulases are cellulases described in EP 495,257, EP 531,372, WO 96/11262, WO 96/29397, WO 98/08940. Other examples are cellulase variants such as those described in WO 94/07998, EP 531,315, U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,307, U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,046, U.S. Pat. No. 5,648,263, U.S. Pat. No. 5,686,593, U.S. Pat. No. 5,691,178, U.S. Pat. No. 5,763,254, U.S. Pat. No. 5,776,757, WO 89/09259, WO 95/24471, WO 98/12307, and PCT/DK98/00299.

The cellulolytic proteins and cellulolytic enhancing proteins used in the methods of the present invention may be produced by fermentation of the above-noted microbial strains on a nutrient medium containing suitable carbon and nitrogen sources and inorganic salts, using procedures known in the art (see, e.g., Bennett, J. W. and LaSure, L. (eds.), More Gene Manipulations in Fungi, Academic Press, CA, 1991). Suitable media are available from commercial suppliers or may be prepared according to published compositions (e.g., in catalogues of the American Type Culture Collection). Temperature ranges and other conditions suitable for growth and cellulolytic protein production are known in the art (see, e.g., Bailey, J. E., and Ollis, D. F., Biochemical Engineering Fundamentals, McGraw-Hill Book Company, NY, 1986).

The fermentation can be any method of cultivation of a cell resulting in the expression or isolation of a cellulolytic protein or cellulolytic enhancing protein. Fermentation may, therefore, be understood as comprising shake flask cultivation, small- or large-scale fermentation (including continuous, batch, fed-batch, or solid state fermentations) in laboratory or industrial fermenters performed in a suitable medium and under conditions allowing the cellulolytic protein or cellulolytic enhancing protein to be expressed or isolated.

The resulting cellulolytic proteins or cellulolytic enhancing proteins produced by the methods described above may be recovered from the fermentation medium by conventional procedures including, but not limited to, centrifugation, filtration, spray-drying, evaporation, or precipitation. The recovered protein may then be further purified by a variety of chromatographic procedures, e.g., ion exchange chromatography, gel filtration chromatography, affinity chromatography, or the like.

The cellulolytic protein may hydrolyze or hydrolyzes carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), thereby decreasing the viscosity of the incubation mixture. The resulting reduction in viscosity may be determined by a vibration viscosimeter (e.g., MIVI 3000 from Sofraser, France). Determination of cellulase activity, measured in terms of Cellulase Viscosity Unit (CEVU), quantifies the amount of catalytic activity present in a sample by measuring the ability of the sample to reduce the viscosity of a solution of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). The assay is performed at the temperature and pH suitable for the cellulolytic protein and substrate. For Celluclast™ (Novozymes A/S, Bagsværd, Denmark) the assay is carried out at 40° C. in 0.1 M phosphate pH 9.0 buffer for 30 minutes with CMC as substrate (33.3 g/L carboxymethyl cellulose Hercules 7 LFD) and an enzyme concentration of approximately 3.3-4.2 CEVU/ml. The CEVU activity is calculated relative to a declared enzyme standard, such as CELLUZYME™ Standard 17-1194 (obtained from Novozymes A/S).

Examples of cellulolytic preparations suitable for use in the present invention include, for example, CELLUCLAST™ (available from Novozymes A/S) and NOVOZYM™ 188 (available from Novozymes A/S). Other commercially available preparations comprising cellulase which may be used include CELLUZYME™, CEREFLO™ and ULTRAFLO™ (Novozymes A/S), LAMINEX™ and SPEZYME™ CP (Genencor Int.), and ROHAMENT™ 7069 W (Röhm GmbH). The cellulase enzymes are added in amounts effective from about 0.001% to about 5.0% wt. of solids, more preferably from about 0.025% to about 4.0% wt. of solids, and most preferably from about 0.005% to about 2.0% wt. of solids.

As mentioned above, the cellulolytic proteins or cellulolytic enhancing proteins used in the methods of the present invention may be monocomponent preparations, i.e., a component essentially free of other cellulolytic components. The single component may be a recombinant component, i.e., produced by cloning of a DNA sequence encoding the single component and subsequent cell transformed with the DNA sequence and expressed in a host (see, for example, WO 91/17243 and WO 91/17244). Other examples of monocomponent cellulolytic proteins include, but are not limited to, those disclosed in JP-07203960-A and WO-9206209. The host is preferably a heterologous host (enzyme is foreign to host), but the host may under certain conditions also be a homologous host (enzyme is native to host). Monocomponent cellulolytic proteins may also be prepared by purifying such a protein from a fermentation broth.

Examples of monocomponent cellulolytic proteins useful in practicing the methods of the present invention include, but are not limited to, endoglucanase, cellobiohydrolase, glucohydrolase, and beta-glucosidase.

The term “endoglucanase” is defined herein as an endo-1,4-(1,3;1,4)-beta-D-glucan 4-glucanohydrolase (E.C. No. 3.2.1.4), which catalyses endohydrolysis of 1,4-beta-D-glycosidic linkages in cellulose, cellulose derivatives (such as carboxymethyl cellulose and hydroxyethyl cellulose), lichenin, beta-1,4 bonds in mixed beta-1,3 glucans such as cereal beta-D-glucans or xyloglucans, and other plant material containing cellulosic components. For purposes of the present invention, endoglucanase activity is determined using carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) hydrolysis according to the procedure of Ghose, 1987, Pure and Appl. Chem. 59: 257-268.

The exo-1,4-beta-D-glucanases include both cellobiohydrolases and glucohydrolases.

The term “cellobiohydrolase” is defined herein as a 1,4-beta-D-glucan cellobiohydrolase (E.C. 3.2.1.91), which catalyzes the hydrolysis of 1,4-beta-D-glucosidic linkages in cellulose, cellooligosaccharides, or any beta-1,4-linked glucose containing polymer, releasing cellobiose from the reducing or non-reducing ends of the chain. For purposes of the present invention, cellobiohydrolase activity is determined according to the procedures described by Lever et al., 1972, Anal. Biochem. 47: 273-279 and by van Tilbeurgh et al., 1982, FEBS Letters 149: 152-156; van Tilbeurgh and Claeyssens, 1985, FEBS Letters 187: 283-288. In the present invention, the Lever et al. method was employed to assess hydrolysis of cellulose in corn stover, while the method of van Tilbeurgh et al. was used to determine the cellobiohydrolase activity on a fluorescent disaccharide derivative.

The term “glucohydrolase” is defined herein as a 1,4-beta-D-glucan glucohydrolase (E.C. 3.2.1.74), which catalyzes the hydrolysis of 1,4-linkages (O-glycosyl bonds) in 1,4-beta-D-glucans so as to remove successive glucose units. For purposes of the present invention, exoglucanase activity is determined according to the procedure described by Himmel et al., 1986, J. Biol. Chem. 261: 12948-12955.

The term “beta-glucosidase” is defined herein as a beta-D-glucoside glucohydrolase (E.C. 3.2.1.21), which catalyzes the hydrolysis of terminal non-reducing beta-D-glucose residues with the release of beta-D-glucose. For purposes of the present invention, beta-glucosidase activity is determined according to the basic procedure described by Venturi et al., 2002, J. Basic Microbiol. 42: 55-66, except different conditions were employed as described herein. One unit of beta-glucosidase activity is defined as 1.0 μmole of p-nitrophenol produced per minute at 50° C., pH 5 from 4 mM p-nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside as substrate in 100 mM sodium citrate, 0.01% Tween-20.

The polypeptides of the present invention are used in conjunction with cellulolytic proteins to degrade the cellulosic component of the biomass substrate, (see, for example, Brigham et al., 1995, in Handbook on Bioethanol (Charles E. Wyman, editor), pp. 119-141, Taylor & Francis, Washington D.C.; Lee, 1997, Journal of Biotechnology 56: 1-24).

The optimum amounts of a polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity and of cellulolytic proteins depends on several factors including, but not limited to, the mixture of component cellulolytic proteins, the cellulosic substrate, the concentration of cellulosic substrate, the pretreatment(s) of the cellulosic substrate, temperature, time, pH, and inclusion of fermenting organism (e.g., yeast for Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation). The term “cellulolytic proteins” is defined herein as those proteins or mixtures of proteins shown as being capable of hydrolyzing or converting or degrading cellulose under the conditions tested. Their amounts are usually measured by a common assay such as BCA (bicinchoninic acid, P. K. Smith et al., 1985, Anal. Biochem. 150: 76), and the preferred amount added in proportion to the amount of biomass being hydrolyzed.

In a preferred aspect, the amount of polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity per 9 of cellulosic material is about 0.01 to about 2.0 mg, preferably about 0.025 to about 1.5 mg, more preferably about 0.05 to about 1.25 mg, more preferably about 0.075 to about 1.25 mg, more preferably about 0.1 to about 1.25 mg, even more preferably about 0.15 to about 1.25 mg, and most preferably about 0.25 to about 1.0 mg per g of cellulosic material.

In another preferred aspect, the amount of cellulolytic proteins per g of cellulosic material is about 0.5 to about 50 mg, preferably about 0.5 to about 40 mg, more preferably about 0.5 to about 25 mg, more preferably about 0.75 to about 20 mg, more preferably about 0.75 to about 15 mg, even more preferably about 0.5 to about 10 mg, and most preferably about 2.5 to about 10 mg per g of cellulosic material.

In a preferred aspect, the amount of polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity per g of cellulolytic proteins is about 0.005 to about 1.0 g, preferably about 0.01 to about 1.0 g, more preferably at about 0.15 to about 0.75 g, more preferably about 0.15 to about 0.5 g, more preferably about 0.1 to about 0.5 g, even more preferably about 0.1 to about 0.5 g, and most preferably about 0.05 to about 0.2 g per g of cellulolytic proteins.

The methods of the present invention may be used to process a cellulosic material to many useful organic products, chemicals and fuels. In addition to ethanol, some commodity and specialty chemicals that can be produced from cellulose include xylose, acetone, acetate, glycine, lysine, organic acids (e.g., lactic acid), 1,3-propanediol, butanediol, glycerol, ethylene glycol, furfural, polyhydroxyalkanoates, cis, cis-muconic acid, and animal feed (Lynd, L. R., Wyman, C. E., and Gerngross, T. U., 1999, Biocommodity Engineering, Biotechnol. Prog., 15: 777-793; Philippidis, G. P., 1996, Cellulose bioconversion technology, in Handbook on Bioethanol: Production and Utilization, Wyman, C. E., ed., Taylor & Francis, Washington, D.C., 179-212; and Ryu, D. D. Y., and Mandels, M., 1980, Cellulases: biosynthesis and applications, Enz. Microb. Technol., 2: 91-102). Potential coproduction benefits extend beyond the synthesis of multiple organic products from fermentable carbohydrate. Lignin-rich residues remaining after biological processing can be converted to lignin-derived chemicals, or used for power production.

Conventional methods used to process the cellulosic material in accordance with the methods of the present invention are well understood to those skilled in the art. The methods of the present invention may be implemented using any conventional biomass processing apparatus configured to operate in accordance with the invention.

Such an apparatus may include a batch-stirred reactor, a continuous flow stirred reactor with ultrafiltration, a continuous plug-flow column reactor (Gusakov, A. V., and Sinitsyn, A. P., 1985, Kinetics of the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose: 1. A mathematical model for a batch reactor process, Enz. Microb. Technol. 7: 346-352), an attrition reactor (Ryu, S. K., and Lee, J. M., 1983, Bioconversion of waste cellulose by using an attrition bioreactor, Biotechnol. Bioeng. 25: 53-65), or a reactor with intensive stirring induced by an electromagnetic field (Gusakov, A. V., Sinitsyn, A. P., Davydkin, I. Y., Davydkin, V. Y., Protas, O. V., 1996, Enhancement of enzymatic cellulose hydrolysis using a novel type of bioreactor with intensive stirring induced by electromagnetic field, Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 56: 141-153).

The conventional methods include, but are not limited to, saccharification, fermentation, separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF), simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF), simultaneous saccharification and cofermentation (SSCF), hybrid hydrolysis and fermentation (HHF), and direct microbial conversion (DMC).

SHF uses separate process steps to first enzymatically hydrolyze cellulose to glucose and then ferment glucose to ethanol. In SSF, the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose and the fermentation of glucose to ethanol is combined in one step (Philippidis, G. P., 1996, Cellulose bioconversion technology, in Handbook on Bioethanol: Production and Utilization, Wyman, C. E., ed., Taylor & Francis, Washington, D.C., 179-212). SSCF includes the coferementation of multiple sugars (Sheehan, J., and Himmel, M., 1999, Enzymes, energy and the environment: A strategic perspective on the U.S. Department of Energy's research and development activities for bioethanol, Biotechnol. Prog. 15: 817-827). HHF includes two separate steps carried out in the same reactor but at different temperatures, i.e., high temperature enzymatic saccharification followed by SSF at a lower temperature that the fermentation strain can tolerate. DMC combines all three processes (cellulase production, cellulose hydrolysis, and fermentation) in one step (Lynd, L. R., Weimer, P. J., van Zyl, W. H., and Pretorius, I. S., 2002, Microbial cellulose utilization: Fundamentals and biotechnology, Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Reviews 66: 506-577).

“Fermentation” or “fermentation process” refers to any fermentation process or any process comprising a fermentation step. A fermentation process includes, without limitation, fermentation processes used to produce fermentation products including alcohols (e.g., arabinitol, butanol, ethanol, glycerol, methanol, 1,3-propanediol, sorbitol, and xylitol); organic acids (e.g., acetic acid, acetonic acid, adipic acid, ascorbic acid, citric acid, 2,5-diketo-D-gluconic acid, formic acid, fumaric acid, glucaric acid, gluconic acid, glucuronic acid, glutaric acid, 3-hydroxypropionic acid, itaconic acid, lactic acid, malic acid, malonic acid, oxalic acid, propionic acid, succinic acid, and xylonic acid); ketones (e.g., acetone); amino acids (e.g., aspartic acid, glutamic acid, glycine, lysine, serine, and threonine); gases (e.g., methane, hydrogen (H₂), carbon dioxide (CO₂), and carbon monoxide (CO)). Fermentation processes also include fermentation processes used in the consumable alcohol industry (e.g., beer and wine), dairy industry (e.g., fermented dairy products), leather industry, and tobacco industry.

The present invention further relates to methods for producing an organic substance, comprising: (a) saccharifying a cellulosic material with an effective amount of a cellulolytic protein in the presence of an effective amount of a polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity, wherein the presence of the polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity increases the degradation of cellulosic material compared to the absence of the polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity; (b) fermenting the saccharified cellulosic material of step (a) with one or more fermentating microorganisms; and (c) recovering the organic substance from the fermentation. The polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity may be in the form of a crude fermentation broth with or without the cells or in the form of a semi-purified or purified enzyme preparation. The cellulolytic enhancing protein may be a monocomponent preparation, e.g., a Family 61 protein, a multicomponent protein preparation, e.g., a number of Family 61 proteins, or a combination of multicomponent and monocomponent protein preparations.

The organic substance can be any substance derived from the fermentation. In a preferred aspect, the organic substance is an alcohol. It will be understood that the term “alcohol” encompasses an organic substance that contains one or more hydroxyl moieties. In a more preferred aspect, the alcohol is arabinitol. In another more preferred aspect, the alcohol is butanol. In another more preferred aspect, the alcohol is ethanol. In another more preferred aspect, the alcohol is glycerol. In another more preferred aspect, the alcohol is methanol. In another more preferred aspect, the alcohol is 1,3-propanediol. In another more preferred aspect, the alcohol is sorbitol. In another more preferred aspect, the alcohol is xylitol. See, for example, Gong, C. S., Cao, N. J., Du, J., and Tsao, G. T., 1999, Ethanol production from renewable resources, in Advances in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology, Scheper, T., ed., Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, Germany, 65: 207-241; Silveira, M. M., and Jonas, R., 2002, The biotechnological production of sorbitol, Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 59: 400-408; Nigam, P., and Singh, D., 1995, Processes for fermentative production of xylitol—a sugar substitute, Process Biochemistry 30 (2): 117-124; Ezeji, T. C., Qureshi, N. and Blaschek, H. P., 2003, Production of acetone, butanol and ethanol by Clostridium beijerinckii BA101 and in situ recovery by gas stripping, World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 19 (6): 595-603.

In another preferred aspect, the organic substance is an organic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is acetic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is acetonic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is adipic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is ascorbic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is citric acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is 2,5-diketo-D-gluconic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is formic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is fumaric acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is glucaric acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is gluconic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is glucuronic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is glutaric acid. In another preferred aspect, the organic acid is 3-hydroxypropionic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is itaconic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is lactic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is malic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is malonic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is oxalic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is propionic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is succinic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is xylonic acid. See, for example, Chen, R., and Lee, Y. Y., 1997, Membrane-mediated extractive fermentation for lactic acid production from cellulosic biomass, Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 63-65: 435-448.

In another preferred aspect, the organic substance is a ketone. It will be understood that the term “ketone” encompasses an organic substance that contains one or more ketone moieties. In another more preferred aspect, the ketone is acetone. See, for example, Qureshi and Blaschek, 2003, supra.

In another preferred aspect, the organic substance is an amino acid. In another more preferred aspect, the organic acid is aspartic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the amino acid is glutamic acid. In another more preferred aspect, the amino acid is glycine. In another more preferred aspect, the amino acid is lysine. In another more preferred aspect, the amino acid is serine. In another more preferred aspect, the amino acid is threonine. See, for example, Richard, A., and Margaritis, A., 2004, Empirical modeling of batch fermentation kinetics for poly(glutamic acid) production and other microbial biopolymers, Biotechnology and Bioengineering 87 (4): 501-515.

In another preferred aspect, the organic substance is a gas. In another more preferred aspect, the gas is methane. In another more preferred aspect, the gas is H₂. In another more preferred aspect, the gas is CO₂. In another more preferred aspect, the gas is CO. See, for example, Kataoka, N., A. Miya, and K. Kiriyama, 1997, Studies on hydrogen production by continuous culture system of hydrogen-producing anaerobic bacteria, Water Science and Technology 36 (6-7): 41-47; and Gunaseelan V. N. in Biomass and Bioenergy, Vol. 13 (1-2), pp. 83-114, 1997, Anaerobic digestion of biomass for methane production: A review.

Production of an organic substance from cellulosic material typically requires four major steps. These four steps are pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation, and recovery. Exemplified below is a process for producing ethanol, but it will be understood that similar processes can be used to produce other organic substances, for example, the substances described above.

Pretreatment. In the pretreatment or pre-hydrolysis step, the cellulosic material is heated to break down the lignin and carbohydrate structure, solubilize most of the hemicellulose, and make the cellulose fraction accessible to cellulolytic enzymes. The heating is performed either directly with steam or in slurry where a catalyst may also be added to the material to speed up the reactions. Catalysts include strong acids, such as sulfuric acid and SO₂, or alkali, such as sodium hydroxide. The purpose of the pre-treatment stage is to facilitate the penetration of the enzymes and microorganisms. Cellulosic biomass may also be subject to a hydrothermal steam explosion pretreatment (See U.S. Patent Application No. 20020164730).

Saccharification. In the enzymatic hydrolysis step, also known as saccharification, enzymes as described herein are added to the pretreated material to convert the cellulose fraction to glucose and/or other sugars. The saccharification is generally performed in stirred-tank reactors or fermentors under controlled pH, temperature, and mixing conditions. A saccharification step may last up to 200 hours. Saccharification may be carried out at temperatures from about 30° C. to about 65° C., in particular around 50° C., and at a pH in the range between about 4 and about 5, especially around pH 4.5. To produce glucose that can be metabolized by yeast, the hydrolysis is typically performed in the presence of a beta-glucosidase.

Fermentation. In the fermentation step, sugars, released from the cellulosic material as a result of the pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis steps, are fermented to ethanol by a fermenting organism, such as yeast. The fermentation can also be carried out simultaneously with the enzymatic hydrolysis in the same vessel, again under controlled pH, temperature, and mixing conditions. When saccharification and fermentation are performed simultaneously in the same vessel, the process is generally termed simultaneous saccharification and fermentation or SSF.

Any suitable cellulosic substrate or raw material may be used in a fermentation process of the present invention. The substrate is generally selected based on the desired fermentation product, i.e., the organic substance to be obtained from the fermentation, and the process employed, as is well known in the art. Examples of substrates suitable for use in the methods of present invention, include cellulose-containing materials, such as wood or plant residues or low molecular sugars DP1-3 obtained from processed cellulosic material that can be metabolized by the fermenting microorganism, and which may be supplied by direct addition to the fermentation medium.

The term “fermentation medium” will be understood to refer to a medium before the fermenting microorganism(s) is(are) added, such as, a medium resulting from a saccharification process, as well as a medium used in a simultaneous saccharification and fermentation process (SSF).

“Fermenting microorganism” refers to any microorganism suitable for use in a desired fermentation process. Suitable fermenting microorganisms according to the invention are able to ferment, i.e., convert, sugars, such as glucose, xylose, arabinose, mannose, galactose, or oligosaccharides directly or indirectly into the desired fermentation product. Examples of fermenting microorganisms include fungal organisms, such as yeast. Preferred yeast includes strains of the Saccharomyces spp., and in particular, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Commercially available yeast include, e.g., Red Star®/™/Lesaffre Ethanol Red (available from Red Star/Lesaffre, USA) FALI (available from Fleischmann's Yeast, a division of Burns Philp Food Inc., USA), SUPERSTART (available from Alltech), GERT STRAND (available from Gert Strand AB, Sweden) and FERMIOL (available from DSM Specialties).

In a preferred aspect, the yeast is a Saccharomyces spp. In a more preferred aspect, the yeast is Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In another more preferred aspect, the yeast is Saccharomyces distaticus. In another more preferred aspect, the yeast is Saccharomyces uvarum. In another preferred aspect, the yeast is a Kluyveromyces. In another more preferred aspect, the yeast is Kluyveromyces marxianus. In another more preferred aspect, the yeast is Kluyveromyces fragilis. In another preferred aspect, the yeast is a Candida. In another more preferred aspect, the yeast is Candida pseudotropicalis. In another more preferred aspect, the yeast is Candida brassicae. In another preferred aspect, the yeast is a Clavispora. In another more preferred aspect, the yeast is Clavispora lusitaniae. In another more preferred aspect, the yeast is Clavispora opuntiae. In another preferred aspect, the yeast is a Pachysolen. In another more preferred aspect, the yeast is Pachysolen tannophilus. In another preferred aspect, the yeast is a Bretannomyces. In another more preferred aspect, the yeast is Bretannomyces clausenii (Philippidis, G. P., 1996, Cellulose bioconversion technology, in Handbook on Bioethanol: Production and Utilization, Wyman, C. E., ed., Taylor & Francis, Washington, D.C., 179-212).

Bacteria that can efficiently ferment glucose to ethanol include, for example, Zymomonas mobilis and Clostridium thermocellum (Philippidis, 1996, supra).

It is well known in the art that the organisms described above can also be used to produce other organic substances, as described herein.

The cloning of heterologous genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Chen, Z., Ho, N. W. Y., 1993, Cloning and improving the expression of Pichia stipitis xylose reductase gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 39-40: 135-147; Ho, N. W. Y., Chen, Z, Brainard, A. P., 1998, Genetically engineered Saccharomyces yeast capable of effectively cofermenting glucose and xylose, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64: 1852-1859), or in bacteria such as Escherichia coli (Beall, D. S., Ohta, K., Ingram, L. O., 1991, Parametric studies of ethanol production from xylose and other sugars by recombinant Escherichia coli, Biotech. Bioeng. 38: 296-303), Klebsiella oxytoca (Ingram, L. O., Gomes, P. F., Lai, X., Moniruzzaman, M., Wood, B. E., Yomano, L. P., York, S. W., 1998, Metabolic engineering of bacteria for ethanol production, Biotechnol. Bioeng. 58: 204-214), and Zymomonas mobilis (Zhang, M., Eddy, C., Deanda, K., Finkelstein, M., and Picataggio, S., 1995, Metabolic engineering of a pentose metabolism pathway in ethanologenic Zymomonas mobilis, Science 267: 240-243; Deanda, K., Zhang, M., Eddy, C., and Picataggio, S., 1996, Development of an arabinose-fermenting Zymomonas mobilis strain by metabolic pathway engineering, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 62: 4465-4470) has led to the construction of organisms capable of converting hexoses and pentoses to ethanol (cofermentation).

Yeast or another microorganism typically is added to the degraded cellulose or hydrolysate and the fermentation is ongoing for about 24 to about 96 hours, such as about 35 to about 60 hours. The temperature is typically between about 26° C. to about 40° C., in particular at about 32° C., and at about pH 3 to about pH 6, in particular around pH 4-5.

In a preferred aspect, yeast or another microorganism is applied to the degraded cellulose or hydrolysate and the fermentation is ongoing for about 24 to about 96 hours, such as typically 35-60 hours. In a preferred aspects, the temperature is generally between about 26 to about 40° C., in particular about 32° C., and the pH is generally from about pH 3 to about pH 6, preferably around pH 4-5. Yeast or another microorganism is preferably applied in amounts of approximately 10⁵ to 10¹², preferably from approximately 10⁷ to 10¹⁰, especially approximately 5×10⁷ viable count per ml of fermentation broth. During an ethanol producing phase the yeast cell count should preferably be in the range from approximately 10⁷ to 10¹⁰, especially around approximately 2×10⁸. Further guidance in respect of using yeast for fermentation can be found in, e.g., “The Alcohol Textbook” (Editors K. Jacques, T. P. Lyons and D. R. Kelsall, Nottingham University Press, United Kingdom 1999), which is hereby incorporated by reference.

The most widely used process in the art is the simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) process where there is no holding stage for the saccharification, meaning that yeast and enzyme are added together.

For ethanol production, following the fermentation the mash is distilled to extract the ethanol. The ethanol obtained according to the process of the invention may be used as, e.g., fuel ethanol; drinking ethanol, i.e., potable neutral spirits, or industrial ethanol.

A fermentation stimulator may be used in combination with any of the enzymatic processes described herein to further improve the fermentation process, and in particular, the performance of the fermenting microorganism, such as, rate enhancement and ethanol yield. A “fermentation stimulator” refers to stimulators for growth of the fermenting microorganisms, in particular, yeast. Preferred fermentation stimulators for growth include vitamins and minerals. Examples of vitamins include multivitamins, biotin, pantothenate, nicotinic acid, meso-inositol, thiamine, pyridoxine, para-aminobenzoic acid, folic acid, riboflavin, and Vitamins A, B, C, D, and E. See, e.g., Alfenore et al., Improving ethanol production and viability of Saccharomyces cerevisiae by a vitamin feeding strategy during fed-batch process, Springer-Verlag (2002), which is hereby incorporated by reference. Examples of minerals include minerals and mineral salts that can supply nutrients comprising P, K, Mg, S, Ca, Fe, Zn, Mn, and Cu.

Recovery. The alcohol is separated from the fermented cellulosic material and purified by conventional methods of distillation. Ethanol with a purity of up to about 96 vol. % ethanol can be obtained, which can be used as, for example, fuel ethanol, drinking ethanol, i.e., potable neutral spirits, or industrial ethanol.

For other organic substances, any method known in the art can be used including, but not limited to, chromatography (e.g., ion exchange, affinity, hydrophobic, chromatofocusing, and size exclusion), electrophoretic procedures (e.g., preparative isoelectric focusing), differential solubility (e.g., ammonium sulfate precipitation), SDS-PAGE, distillation, or extraction.

In the methods of the present invention, the cellulolytic protein(s) and cellulolytic enhancing polypeptide(s) may be supplemented by one or more additional enzyme activities to improve the degradation of the cellulosic material. Preferred additional enzymes are hemicellulases, esterases (e.g., lipases, phospholipases, and/or cutinases), proteases, laccases, peroxidases, or mixtures thereof.

In the methods of the present invention, the additional enzyme(s) may be added prior to or during fermentation, including during or after the propagation of the fermenting microorganism(s).

The enzymes referenced herein may be derived or obtained from any suitable origin, including, bacterial, fungal, yeast or mammalian origin. The term “obtained” means herein that the enzyme may have been isolated from an organism which naturally produces the enzyme as a native enzyme. The term “obtained” also means herein that the enzyme may have been produced recombinantly in a host organism, wherein the recombinantly produced enzyme is either native or foreign to the host organism or has a modified amino acid sequence, e.g., having one or more amino acids which are deleted, inserted and/or substituted, i.e., a recombinantly produced enzyme which is a mutant and/or a fragment of a native amino acid sequence or an enzyme produced by nucleic acid shuffling processes known in the art. Encompassed within the meaning of a native enzyme are natural variants and within the meaning of a foreign enzyme are variants obtained recombinantly, such as by site-directed mutagenesis or shuffling.

The enzymes may also be purified. The term “purified” as used herein covers enzymes free from other components from the organism from which it is derived. The term “purified” also covers enzymes free from components from the native organism from which it is obtained. The enzymes may be purified, with only minor amounts of other proteins being present. The expression “other proteins” relate in particular to other enzymes. The term “purified” as used herein also refers to removal of other components, particularly other proteins and most particularly other enzymes present in the cell of origin of the enzyme of the invention. The enzyme may be “substantially pure,” that is, free from other components from the organism in which it is produced, that is, for example, a host organism for recombinantly produced enzymes. In a preferred aspect, the enzymes are at least 75% (w/w), preferably at least 80%, more preferably at least 85%, more preferably at least 90%, more preferably at least 95%, more preferably at least 96%, more preferably at least 97%, even more preferably at least 98%, or most preferably at least 99% pure. In another preferred aspect, the enzyme is 100% pure.

The enzymes used in the present invention may be in any form suitable for use in the processes described herein, such as, for example, a crude fermentation broth with or without cells, a dry powder or granulate, a non-dusting granulate, a liquid, a stabilized liquid, or a protected enzyme. Granulates may be produced, e.g., as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,106,991 and 4,661,452, and may optionally be coated by process known in the art. Liquid enzyme preparations may, for instance, be stabilized by adding stabilizers such as a sugar, a sugar alcohol or another polyol, and/or lactic acid or another organic acid according to established process. Protected enzymes may be prepared according to the process disclosed in EP 238,216.

Hemicellulases

Enzymatic hydrolysis of hemicelluloses can be performed by a wide variety of fungi and bacteria. Similar to cellulose degradation, hemicellulose hydrolysis requires coordinated action of many enzymes. Hemicellulases can be placed into three general categories: the endo-acting enzymes that attack internal bonds within the polysaccharide chain, the exo-acting enzymes that act processively from either the reducing or nonreducing end of polysaccharide chain, and the accessory enzymes, acetylesterases and esterases that hydrolyze lignin glycoside bonds, such as coumaric acid esterase and ferulic acid esterase (Wong, K. K. Y., Tan, L. U. L., and Saddler, J. N., 1988, Multiplicity of β-1,4-xylanase in microorganisms: Functions and applications, Microbiol. Rev. 52: 305-317; Tenkanen, M., and Poutanen, K., 1992, Significance of esterases in the degradation of xylans, in Xylans and Xylanases, Visser, J., Beldman, G., Kuster-van Someren, M. A., and Voragen, A. G. J., eds., Elsevier, New York, N.Y., 203-212; Coughlan, M. P., and Hazlewood, G. P., 1993, Hemicellulose and hemicellulases, Portland, London, UK; Brigham, J. S., Adney, W. S., and Himmel, M. E., 1996, Hemicellulases: Diversity and applications, in Handbook on Bioethanol: Production and Utilization, Wyman, C. E., ed., Taylor & Francis, Washington, D.C., 119-141).

Hemicellulases include xylanases, arabinofuranosidases, acetyl xylan esterase, glucuronidases, endo-galactanase, mannanases, endo or exo arabinases, exo-galactanses, and mixtures thereof. Examples of endo-acting hemicellulases and ancillary enzymes include endoarabinanase, endoarabinogalactanase, endoglucanase, endomannanase, endoxylanase, and feraxan endoxylanase. Examples of exo-acting hemicellulases and ancillary enzymes include α-L-arabinosidase, β-L-arabinosidase, α-1,2-L-fucosidase, α-D-galactosidase, β-D-galactosidase, β-D-glucosidase, β-D-glucuronidase, β-D-mannosidase, β-D-xylosidase, exoglucosidase, exocellobiohydrolase, exomannobiohydrolase, exomannanase, exoxylanase, xylan α-glucuronidase, and coniferin β-glucosidase. Examples of esterases include acetyl esterases (acetylgalactan esterase, acetylmannan esterase, and acetylxylan esterase) and aryl esterases (coumaric acid esterase and ferulic acid esterase).

Preferably, the hemicellulase is an exo-acting hemicellulase, and more preferably, an exo-acting hemicellulase which has the ability to hydrolyze hemicellulose under acidic conditions of below pH 7. An example of a hemicellulase suitable for use in the present invention includes VISCOZYME™ (available from Novozymes A/S). The hemicellulase is added in an effective amount from about 0.001% to about 5.0% wt. of solids, more preferably from about 0.025% to about 4.0% wt. of solids, and most preferably from about 0.005% to about 2.0% wt. of solids.

A xylanase (E.C. 3.2.1.8) may be obtained from any suitable source, including fungal and bacterial organisms, such as Aspergillus, Disporotrichum, Penicillium, Neurospora, Fusarium, Trichoderma, Humicola, Thermomyces, and Bacillus. Preferred commercially available preparations comprising xylanase include SHEARZYME®, BIOFEED WHEAT®, BIO-FEED Plus® L, CELLUCLAST®, ULTRAFLO®, VISCOZYME®, PENTOPAN MONO® BG, and PULPZYME® HC (Novozymes A/S); and LAMINEX® and SPEZYME® CP (Genencor Int.).

Esterases

Esterases that can be used for bioconversion of cellulose include acetyl esterases such as acetylgalactan esterase, acetylmannan esterase, and acetylxylan esterase, and esterases that hydrolyze lignin glycoside bonds, such as coumaric acid esterase and ferulic acid esterase.

As used herein, an “esterase” also known as a carboxylic ester hydrolyase, refers to enzymes acting on ester bonds, and includes enzymes classified in EC 3.1.1 Carboxylic Ester Hydrolases according to Enzyme Nomenclature (Enzyme Nomenclature, 1992, Academic Press, San Diego, Calif., with Supplement 1 (1993), Supplement 2 (1994), Supplement 3 (1995), Supplement 4 (1997) and Supplement 5, in Eur. J. Biochem. 223: 1-5, 1994; Eur. J. Biochem. 232: 1-6, 1995; Eur. J. Biochem. 237: 1-5, 1996; Eur. J. Biochem. 250:1-6, 1997, and Eur. J. Biochem. 264: 610-650, 1999; respectively). Non-limiting examples of esterases include arylesterase, triacylglycerol lipase, acetylesterase, acetylcholinesterase, cholinesterase, tropinesterase, pectinesterase, sterol esterase, chlorophyllase, L-arabinonolactonase, gluconolactonase, uronolactonase, tannase, retinyl-palmitate esterase, hydroxybutyrate-dimer hydrolase, acylglycerol lipase, 3-oxoadipate enol-lactonase, 1,4-lactonase, galactolipase, 4-pyridoxolactonase, acylcamitine hydrolase, aminoacyl-tRNA hydrolase, D-arabinonolactonase, 6-phosphogluconolactonase, phospholipase A1, 6-acetylglucose deacetylase, lipoprotein lipase, dihydrocoumarin lipase, limonin-D-ring-lactonase, steroid-lactonase, triacetate-lactonase, actinomycin lactonase, orsellinate-depside hydrolase, cephalosporin-C deacetylase, chlorogenate hydrolase, alpha-amino-acid esterase, 4-methyloxaloacetate esterase, carboxymethylenebutenolidase, deoxylimonate A-ring-lactonase, 2-acetyl-1-alkylglycerophosphocholine esterase, fusarinine-C ornithinesterase, sinapine esterase, wax-ester hydrolase, phorbol-diester hydrolase, phosphatidylinositol deacylase, sialate O-acetylesterase, acetoxybutynylbithiophene deacetylase, acetylsalicylate deacetylase, methylumbelliferyl-acetate deacetylase, 2-pyrone-4,6-dicarboxylate lactonase, N-acetylgalactosaminoglycan deacetylase, juvenile-hormone esterase, bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate esterase, protein-glutamate methylesterase, 11-cis-retinyl-palmitate hydrolase, all-trans-retinylpalmitate hydrolase, L-rhamnono-1,4-lactonase, 5-(3,4-diacetoxybut-1-ynyl)-2,2′-bithiophene deacetylase, fatty-acyl-ethyl-ester synthase, xylono-1,4-lactonase, N-acetylglucosaminylphosphatidylinositol deacetylase, cetraxate benzylesterase, acetylalkylglycerol acetylhydrolase, and acetylxylan esterase.

Preferred esterases for use in the present invention are lipolytic enzymes, such as, lipases (classified as EC 3.1.1.3, EC 3.1.1.23, and/or EC 3.1.1.26) and phospholipases (classified as EC 3.1.1.4 and/or EC 3.1.1.32, including lysophospholipases classified as EC 3.1.1.5). Other preferred esterases are cutinases (classified as EC 3.1.1.74).

The esterase may be added in an amount effective to obtain the desired benefit to improve the performance of the fermenting microorganism, for example, to change the lipid composition/concentration inside and/or outside of the fermenting microorganism or in the cell membrane of the fermenting microorganism, to result in an improvement in the movement of solutes into and/or out of the fermenting microorganisms during fermentation and/or to provide more metabolizable energy sources (such as, for example, by converting components, such as, oil from the corn substrate, to components useful the fermenting microorganism, e.g., unsaturated fatty acids and glycerol), to increase ethanol yield. Examples of effective amounts of esterase are from about 0.01 to about 400 LU/g DS (Dry Solids). Preferably, the esterase is used in an amount of about 0.1 to about 100 LU/g DS, more preferably about 0.5 to about 50 LU/g DS, and even more preferably about 1 to about 20 LU/g DS. Further optimization of the amount of esterase can hereafter be obtained using standard procedures known in the art.

One Lipase Unit (LU) is the amount of enzyme which liberates 1.0 μmol of titratable fatty acid per minute with tributyrin as substrate and gum arabic as an emulsifier at 30(C, pH 7.0 (phosphate buffer).

In a preferred aspect, the esterase is a lipolytic enzyme, more preferably, a lipase. As used herein, a “lipolytic enzyme” refers to lipases and phospholipases (including lysophospholipases). The lipolytic enzyme is preferably of microbial origin, in particular of bacterial, fungal or yeast origin. The lipolytic enzyme used may be derived from any source, including, for example, a strain of Absidia, in particular Absidia blakesleena and Absidia corymbifera, a strain of Achromobacter, in particular Achromobacter iophagus, a strain of Aeromonas, a strain of Alternaria, in particular Alternaria brassiciola, a strain of Aspergillus, in particular Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus oryzae, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Aspergillus flavus, a strain of Achromobacter, in particular Achromobacter iophagus, a strain of Aureobasidium, in particular Aureobasidium pullulans, a strain of Bacillus, in particular Bacillus pumilus, Bacillus stearothermophilus, and Bacillus subtilis, a strain of Beauveria, a strain of Brochothrix, in particular Brochothrix thermosohata, a strain of Candida, in particular Candida cylindracea (Candida rugosa), Candida paralipolytica, and Candida antarctica, a strain of Chromobacter, in particular Chromobacter viscosum, a strain of Coprinus, in particular Coprinus cinereus, a strain of Fusarium, in particular Fusadum graminearum, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium solani, Fusarium solani pisi, Fusarium roseum culmorum, and Fusarium venenatum, a strain of Geotricum, in particular Geotricum penicillatum, a strain of Hansenula, in particular Hansenula anomala, a strain of Humicola, in particular Humicola brevispora, Humicola brevis var. thermoidea, and Humicola insolens, a strain of Hyphozyma, a strain of Lactobacillus, in particular Lactobacillus curvatus, a strain of Metarhizium, a strain of Mucor, a strain of Paecilomyces, a strain of Penicillium, in particular Penicillium cyclopium, Penicillium crustosum and Penicillium expansum, a strain of Pseudomonas in particular Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas alcaligenes, Pseudomonas cepacia (syn. Burkholderia cepada), Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas fragi, Pseudomonas maltophilia, Pseudomonas mendocina, Pseudomonas mephitica lipolytica, Pseudomonas alcaligenes, Pseudomonas plantari, Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes, Pseudomonas putida, Pseudomonas stutzeri, and Pseudomonas wisconsinensis, a strain of Rhizooctonia, in particular Rhizooctonia solani, a strain of Rhizomucor, in particular Rhizomucor miehei, a strain of Rhizopus, in particular Rhizopus japonicus, Rhizopus microsporus, and Rhizopus nodosus, a strain of Rhodosporidium, in particular Rhodosporidium toruloides, a strain of Rhodotorula, in particular Rhodotorula glutinis, a strain of Sporobolomyces, in particular Sporobolomyces shibatanus, a strain of Thermomyces, in particular Thermomyces lanuginosus (formerly Humicola lanuginosa), a strain of Thiarosporella, in particular Thiarosporella phaseolina, a strain of Trichoderma, in particular, Trichoderma harzianum and Trichoderma reesei, and/or a strain of Verticillium.

In a preferred aspect, the lipolytic enzyme is derived from a strain of Aspergillus, Achromobacter, Bacillus, Candida, Chromobacter, Fusarium, Humicola, Hyphozyma, Pseudomonas, Rhizomucor, Rhizopus, or Thermomyces.

In more preferred aspects, the lipolytic enzyme is a lipase. Lipases may be applied herein for their ability to modify the structure and composition of triglyceride oils and fats in the fermentation media (including fermentation yeast), for example, resulting from a corn substrate. Lipases catalyze different types of triglyceride conversions, such as hydrolysis, esterification, and transesterification. Suitable lipases include acidic, neutral, and basic lipases, as are well-known in the art, although acidic lipases (such as, e.g., the lipase G AMANO 50, available from Amano) appear to be more effective at lower concentrations of lipase as compared to either neutral or basic lipases. Preferred lipases for use in the present invention include Candida antarcitca lipase and Candida cylindracea lipase. More preferred lipases are purified lipases such as Candida antarcitca lipase (lipase A), Candida antarcitca lipase (lipase B), Candida cylindracea lipase, and Penicillium camembertii lipase.

The lipase may be the one disclosed in EP 258,068-A or may be a lipase variant such as a variant disclosed in WO 00/60063 or WO 00/32758, hereby incorporated by reference. Preferred commercial lipases include LECITASE™, LIPOLASE™, and LIPEX™ (available from Novozymes A/S) and G AMANO™ 50 (available from Amano).

Lipases are preferably added in amounts from about 1 to about 400 LU/g DS, preferably about 1 to about 10 LU/g DS, and more preferably about 1 to about 5 LU/g DS.

In another preferred aspect of the present invention, the esterase is a cutinase. Cutinases are enzymes which are able to degrade cutin. The cutinase may be derived from any source. In a preferred aspect, the cutinase is derived from a strain of Aspergillus, in particular Aspergillus oryzae, a strain of Alternaria, in particular Alternaria brassiciola, a strain of Fuserium, in particular Fusarium solani, Fusarium solani pisi, Fusarium roseum culmorum, or Fusarium roseum sambucium, a strain of Helminthosporum, in particular Helminthosporum sativum, a strain of Humicola, in particular Humicola insolens, a strain of Pseudomonas, in particular Pseudomonas mendocina or Pseudomonas putida, a strain of Rhizooctonia, in particular Rhizooctonia solani, a strain of Streptomyces, in particular Streptomyces scabies, or a strain of Ulocladium, in particular Ulociadium consortiale. In a most preferred aspect the cutinase is derived from a strain of Humicola insolens, in particular the strain Humicola insolens DSM 1800. Humicola insolens cutinase is described in WO 96/13580, which is hereby incorporated by reference. The cutinase may be a variant such as one of the variants disclosed in WO 00/34450 and WO 01/92502, which are hereby incorporated by reference. Preferred cutinase variants include variants listed in Example 2 of WO 01/92502 which are hereby specifically incorporated by reference. An effective amount of cutinase is from about 0.01 to about 400 LU/g DS, preferably from about 0.1 to about 100 LU/g DS, and more preferably from about 1 to about 50 LU/g DS. Further optimization of the amount of cutinase can hereafter be obtained using standard procedures known in the art.

In another preferred aspect, the esterase is a phospholipase. As used herein, the term “phospholipase” is an enzyme which has activity towards phospholipids, e.g., hydrolytic activity. Phospholipids, such as lecithin or phosphatidylcholine, consist of glycerol esterified with two fatty acids in an outer (sn-1) and the middle (sn-2) positions and esterified with phosphoric acid in the third position. The phosphoric acid may be esterified to an amino-alcohol. Several types of phospholipase activity can be distinguished, including phospholipases A1 and A2 which hydrolyze one fatty acyl group (in the sn-1 and sn-2 position, respectively) to form lysophospholipid; and lysophospholipase (or phospholipase B) which hydrolyzes the remaining fatty acyl group in lysophospholipid. Phospholipase C and phospholipase D (phosphodiesterases) release diacyl glycerol or phosphatidic acid respectively.

The term “phospholipase” includes enzymes with phospholipase activity, e.g., phospholipase A (A1 or A2), phospholipase B activity, phospholipase C activity, or phospholipase D activity. The term “phospholipase A” as used herein is intended to cover an enzyme with phospholipase A1 and/or phospholipase A2 activity. The phospholipase activity may be provided by enzymes having other activities as well, such as, e.g., a lipase with phospholipase activity. The phospholipase activity may, for example, be from a lipase with phospholipase side activity. In other aspects, the phospholipase enzyme activity is provided by an enzyme having essentially only phospholipase activity and wherein the phospholipase enzyme activity is not a side activity.

The phospholipase may be of any origin, for example, of animal origin (e.g., mammalian, for example, bovine or porcine pancreas), or snake venom or bee venom. Alternatively, the phospholipase may be of microbial origin, for example, from filamentous fungi, yeast or bacteria, such as Aspergillus, e.g., A. awamori, A. foetidus, A. japonicus, A. niger, or A. oryzae, Dictyostelium, e.g., O. discoideum; Fusarium, e.g., F. culmorum, F. graminearum, F. heterosporum, F. solani, F. oxysporum, or F. venenatum; Mucor, e.g., M. javanicus, M. mucedo, or M. subtilissimus; Neurospora, e.g., N. crassa; Rhizomucor, e.g., R. pusillus; Rhizopus, e.g., R. arrhizus, R. japonicus, or R. stolonifer; Scierotinia, e.g., S. libertiana; Trichophyton, e.g., T. rubrum; Whetzelinia, e.g., W. sclerotiorum; Bacillus, e.g., B. megaterium or B. subtilis; Citrobacter, e.g., C. freundii; Enterobacter, e.g., E. aerogenes or E. cloacae; Edwardsiella, E. tarda; Erwinia, e.g., E. herbicola; Escherichia, e.g., E. coli; Klebsiella, e.g., K. pneumoniae; Proteus, e.g., P. vulgaris; Providencia, e.g., P. stuartii; Salmonella, e.g., S. typhimurium; Serratia, e.g., S. liquefasciens, S. marcescens; Shigella, e.g., S. flexneri; Streptomyces, e.g., S. violeceoruber; or Yersinia, e.g., Y. enterocolitica.

Preferred commercial phospholipases include LECITASE™ and LECITASE™ ULTRA (available from Novozymes A/S).

An effective amount of phospholipase is from about 0.01 to about 400 LU/g DS, preferably from about 0.1 to about 100 LU/g DS, and more preferably from about 1 to about 50 LU/g DS. Further optimization of the amount of phospholipase can hereafter be obtained using standard procedures known in the art.

Proteases

In another preferred aspect of the invention, at least one surfactant and at least one carbohydrate generating enzyme is used in combination with at least one protease. The protease may be used, e.g., to digest protein to produce free amino nitrogen (FAN). Such free amino acids function as nutrients for the yeast, thereby enhancing the growth of the yeast and, consequently, the production of ethanol.

The fermenting microorganism for use in a fermentation process may be produced by propagating the fermenting microorganism in the presence of at least one protease. Although not limited to any one theory of operation, it is believed that the propagation of the fermenting microorganism with an effective amount of at least one protease reduces the lag time of the fermenting microorganism when the fermenting microorganism is subsequently used in a fermentation process as compared to a fermenting microorganism that was propogated under the same conditions without the addition of the protease. The action of the protease in the propagation process is believed to directly or indirectly result in the suppression or expression of genes which are detrimental or beneficial, respectively, to the fermenting microorganism during fermentation, thereby decreasing lag time and resulting in a faster fermentation cycle.

Proteases are well known in the art and refer to enzymes that catalyze the cleavage of peptide bonds. Suitable proteases include fungal and bacterial proteases. Preferred proteases are acidic proteases, i.e., proteases characterized by the ability to hydrolyze proteins under acidic conditions below pH 7. Suitable acid fungal proteases include fungal proteases derived from Aspergillus, Mucor, Rhizopus, Candida, Coriolus, Endothia, Enthomophtra, Irpex, Penicillium, Sclerotium, and Torulopsis. Especially contemplated are proteases derived from Aspergillus niger (see, e.g., Koaze et al., 1964, Agr. Biol. Chem. Japan 28: 216), Aspergillus saitoi (see, e.g., Yoshida, 1954, J. Agr. Chem. Soc. Japan 28: 66), Aspergillus awamori (Hayashida et al., 1977, Agric. Biol. Chem. 42: 927-933, Aspergillus aculeatus (WO 95/02044), or Aspergillus oryzae; and acidic proteases from Mucor pusillus or Mucor miehei.

Bacterial proteases, which are not acidic proteases, include the commercially available products ALCALASE™ and NEUTRASE™ (available from Novozymes A/S). Other proteases include GC106 from Genencor International, Inc., USA and NOVOZYM™ 50006 from Novozymes A/S.

Preferably, the protease is an aspartic acid protease, as described, for example, in Handbook of Proteolytic Enzymes, Edited by A. J. Barrett, N. D. Rawlings and J. F. Woessner, Academic Press, San Diego, 1998, Chapter 270). Suitable examples of aspartic acid protease include, e.g., those disclosed by Berka et al., 1990, Gene 96: 313; Berka et al., 1993, Gene 125: 195-198; and Gomi et al., 1993, Biosci. Biotech. Biochem. 57: 1095-1100.

Peroxidases

Other compounds possessing peroxidase activity may be any peroxidase (EC 1.11.1.7), or any fragment having peroxidase activity derived therefrom, exhibiting peroxidase activity.

Preferably, the peroxidase is produced by plants (e.g., horseradish or soybean peroxidase) or microorganisms such as fungi or bacteria.

Some preferred fungi include strains belonging to the subdivision Deuteromycotina, class Hyphomycetes, e.g., Fusarium, Humicola, Tricoderma, Myrothecium, Verticillum, Arthromyces, Caldariomyces, Ulocladium, Embellisia, Cladosporium, or Dresdhlera, in particular, Fusarium oxysporum (DSM 2672), Humicola insolens, Trichoderma reesei, Myrothecium verrucaria (IFO 6113), Verticillum alboatrum, Verticillum dahlia, Arthromyoes ramosus (FERM P-7754), Caldariomyces fumago, Ulocladium chartarum, Embellisia alli, or Dreschlera halodes.

Other preferred fungi include strains belonging to the subdivision Basidiomycotina, class Basidiomycetes, e.g., Coprinus, Phanerochaete, Coriolus, or Trametes, in particular Coprinus cinereus f. microsporus (IFO 8371), Copdinus macrorhizus, Phanerochaete chrysosporium (e.g. NA-12), or Trametes (previously called Polyporus), e.g., T. versicolor (e.g., PR428-A).

Further preferred fungi include strains belonging to the subdivision Zygomycotina, class Mycoraceae, e.g., Rhizopus or Mucor, in particular Mucor hiemais.

Some preferred bacteria include strains of the order Actinomycetales, e.g. Streptomyces spheroides (ATTC 23965), Streptomyces thermoviolaceus (IFO 12382), or Streptoverticillum verticillium ssp. verticillium.

Other preferred bacteria include Rhodobacter sphaeroides, Rhodomonas palustri, Streptococcus lactis, Pseudomonas pufrocinia (ATCC 15958), Pseudomonas fluorescens (NRRL B-11), and Bacillus strains, e.g., Bacillus pumilus (ATCC 12905) and Bacillus stearothermophilus.

Further preferred bacteria include strains belonging to Myxococcus, e.g., M. virescens.

The peroxidase may also be one which is produced by a method comprising cultivating a host cell transformed with a recombinant DNA vector which carries a DNA sequence encoding the peroxidase as well as DNA sequences for expression of the DNA sequence encoding the peroxidase, in a culture medium under conditions permitting the expression of the peroxidase and recovering the peroxidase from the culture.

In a preferred aspect, a recombinantly produced peroxidase is a peroxidase derived from a Goprinus sp., in particular C. macrorhizus or C. cinereus according to WO 92/16634.

In the present invention, compounds possessing peroxidase activity comprise peroxidase enzymes and peroxidase active fragments derived from cytochromes, haemoglobin, or peroxidase enzymes.

One peroxidase unit (POXU) is the amount of enzyme which under the following conditions catalyzes the conversion of 1 μmole hydrogen peroxide per minute at 30° C. in 0.1 M phosphate buffer pH 7.0, 0.88 mM hydrogen peroxide, and 1.67 mM 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS). The reaction is followed for 60 seconds (15 seconds after mixing) by the change in absorbance at 418 nm, which should be in the range of 0.15 to 0.30. For calculation of activity, an absorption coefficient of oxidized ABTS of 36 mM−1 cm−1 and a stoichiometry of one μmole H₂O₂ converted per two μmole ABTS oxidized are used.

Laccases

In the present invention, laccases and laccase related enzymes comprise any laccase enzyme classified as EC 1.10.3.2, any catechol oxidase enzyme classified as EC 1.10.3.1, any bilirubin oxidase enzyme classified as EC 1.3.3.5, or any monophenol monooxygenase enzyme classified as EC 1.14.18.1.

The above-mentioned enzymes may be microbial, i.e., obtained from bacteria or fungi (including filamentous fungi and yeasts), or they may be derived from plants.

Suitable examples from fungi include a laccase obtained from a strain of Aspergillus, Neurospora, e.g., N. crassa, Podospora, Botrytis, Collybia, Fomes, Lentinus, Pleurotus, Trametes, e.g., T. villosa and T. versicolor, Rhizooctonia, e.g., R. solani, Coprinus, e.g., C. cinereus, C. comatus, C. friesii, and C. plicatilis, Psathyrella, e.g., P. condelleana, Panaeolus, e.g., P. papilionaceus, Myceliophthora, e.g., M. thermophila, Schytalidium, e.g., S. thermophilum, Polyporus, e.g., P. pinsitus, Pycnoporus, e.g., P. cinnabarinus, Phlebia, e.g., P. radita (WO 92/01046), or Coriolus, e.g., C. hirsutus (JP 2-238885).

Suitable examples from bacteria include a laccase obtained from a strain of Bacillus.

A laccase obtained from Coprinus, Myceliophthora, Polyporus, Pycnoporus, Scytalidium or Rhizoctonia is preferred; in particular a laccase obtained from Coprinus cinereus, Myceliophthora thermophila, Polyporus pinsitus, Pycnoporus cinnabarinus, Scytelidium thermophilum, or Rhizoctonia solani.

Commercially available laccases are NS51001 (a Polyporus pinsitius laccase, available from Novozymes A/S) and NS51002 (a Myceliopthora themophila laccase, available from Novozymes A/S).

The laccase or the laccase related enzyme may also be one which is produced by a method comprising cultivating a host cell transformed with a recombinant DNA vector which carries a DNA sequence encoding the laccase as well as DNA sequences for expression of the DNA sequence encoding the laccase, in a culture medium under conditions permitting the expression of the laccase enzyme, and recovering the laccase from the culture.

Laccase activity (LACU) is determined from the oxidation of syringaldazin under aerobic conditions at pH 5.5. The violet color produced is photometered at 530 nm. The analytical conditions are 19 mM syringaldazin, 23 mM acetate buffer, pH 5.5, 30° C., 1 minute reaction time. One laccase unit (LACU) is the amount of enzyme that catalyses the conversion of 1.0 μmole syringaldazin per minute under the above conditions.

Laccase activity (LAMU) is determined from the oxidation of syringaldazin under aerobic conditions at pH 7.5. The violet color produced is photometered at 530 nm. The analytical conditions are 19 mM syringaldazin, 23 mM Tris/maleate pH 7.5, 30° C., 1 minute reaction time. One laccase unit (LAMU) is the amount of enzyme that catalyses the conversion of 1.0 μmole syringaldazin per minute under the above conditions.

The polypeptides of the present invention may be used in conjunction with the above-noted enzymes and/or cellulolytic proteins to further degrade the cellulose component of the biomass substrate, (see, for example, Brigham et al., 1995, in Handbook on Bioethanol (Charles E. Wyman, editor), pp. 119-141, Taylor & Francis, Washington D.C.; Lee, 1997, Journal of Biotechnology 56: 1-24).

Detergent Compositions

The polypeptides of the present invention having cellulolytic enhancing activity may be added to and thus become a component of a detergent composition.

The detergent composition of the present invention may be formulated, for example, as a hand or machine laundry detergent composition including a laundry additive composition suitable for pre-treatment of stained fabrics and a rinse added fabric softener composition, or be formulated as a detergent composition for use in general household hard surface cleaning operations, or be formulated for hand or machine dishwashing operations.

In a specific aspect, the present invention provides a detergent additive comprising a polypeptide of the invention. The detergent additive as well as the detergent composition may comprise one or more enzymes such as a protease, lipase, cutinase, an amylase, carbohydrase, cellulase, pectinase, mannanase, arabinase, galactanase, xylanase, oxidase, e.g., a laccase, and/or peroxidase.

In general the properties of the selected enzyme(s) should be compatible with the selected detergent, (i.e., pH-optimum, compatibility with other enzymatic and non-enzymatic ingredients, etc.), and the enzyme(s) should be present in effective amounts.

Cellulases: Suitable cellulases include those of bacterial or fungal origin. Chemically modified or protein engineered mutants are included. Suitable cellulases include cellulases from the genera Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Humicola, Fusarium, Thielavia, Acremonium, e.g., the fungal cellulases produced from Humicola insolens, Myceliophthora thermophila and Fusarium oxysporum disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,307, U.S. Pat. No. 5,648,263, U.S. Pat. No. 5,691,178, U.S. Pat. No. 5,776,757 and WO 89/09259.

Especially suitable cellulases are the alkaline or neutral cellulases having color care benefits. Examples of such cellulases are cellulases described in EP 0 495 257, EP 0 531 372, WO 96/11262, WO 96/29397, WO 98/08940. Other examples are cellulase variants such as those described in WO 94/07998, EP 0 531 315, U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,046, U.S. Pat. No. 5,686,593, U.S. Pat. No. 5,763,254, WO 95/24471, WO 98/12307 and PCT/DK98/00299.

Commercially available cellulases include Celluzyme™, and Carezyme™ (Novozymes A/S), Clazinase™, and Puradax HA™ (Genencor International Inc.), and KAC-500(B)™ (Kao Corporation).

Proteases: Suitable proteases include those of animal, vegetable or microbial origin. Microbial origin is preferred. Chemically modified or protein engineered mutants are included. The protease may be a serine protease or a metalloprotease, preferably an alkaline microbial protease or a trypsin-like protease. Examples of alkaline proteases are subtilisins, especially those derived from Bacillus, e.g., subtilisin Novo, subtilisin Carlsberg, subtilisin 309, subtilisin 147 and subtilisin 168 (described in WO 89/06279). Examples of trypsin-like proteases are trypsin (e.g., of porcine or bovine origin) and the Fusarium protease described in WO 89/06270 and WO 94/25583.

Examples of useful proteases are the variants described in WO 92/19729, WO 98/20115, WO 98/20116, and WO 98/34946, especially the variants with substitutions in one or more of the following positions: 27, 36, 57, 76, 87, 97, 101, 104, 120, 123, 167, 170, 194, 206, 218, 222, 224, 235, and 274.

Preferred commercially available protease enzymes include Alcalase™, Savinase™, Primase™, Duralase™, Esperase™, and Kannase™ (Novozymes A/S), Maxatase™, Maxacal™, Maxapem™, Properase™, Purafect™, Purafect OxP™, FN2™, and FN3™ (Genencor International Inc.).

Lipases: Suitable lipases include those of bacterial or fungal origin. Chemically modified or protein engineered mutants are included. Examples of useful lipases include lipases from Humicola (synonym Thermomyces), e.g., from H. lanuginosa (T. lanuginosus) as described in EP 258 068 and EP 305 216 or from H. insolens as described in WO 96/13580, a Pseudomonas lipase, e.g., from P. alcaligenes or P. pseudoalcaligenes (EP 218 272), P. cepacia (EP 331 376), P. stutzeri (GB 1,372,034), P. fluorescens, Pseudomonas sp. strain SD 705 (WO 95/06720 and WO 96/27002), P. wisconsinensis (WO 96/12012), a Bacillus lipase, e.g., from B. subtilis (Dartois et al., 1993, Biochemica et Biophysica Acta, 1131: 253-360), B. stearothermophilus (JP 64/744992) or B. pumilus (WO 91/16422).

Other examples are lipase variants such as those described in WO 92/05249, WO 94/01541, EP 407 225, EP 260 105, WO 95/35381, WO 96/00292, WO 95/30744, WO 94/25578, WO 95/14783, WO 95/22615, WO 97/04079 and WO 97/07202.

Preferred commercially available lipase enzymes include Lipolase™ and Lipolase Ultra™ (Novozymes A/S).

Amylases: Suitable amylases (α and/or β) include those of bacterial or fungal origin. Chemically modified or protein engineered mutants are included. Amylases include, for example, α-amylases obtained from Bacillus, e.g., a special strain of Bacillus licheniformis, described in more detail in GB 1,296,839.

Examples of useful amylases are the variants described in WO 94/02597, WO 94/18314, WO 96/23873, and WO 97/43424, especially the variants with substitutions in one or more of the following positions: 15, 23, 105, 106, 124, 128, 133, 154, 156, 181, 188, 190, 197, 202, 208, 209, 243, 264, 304, 305, 391, 408, and 444.

Commercially available amylases are Duramyl™, Termamyl™, Fungamyl™ and BAN™ (Novozymes A/S), Rapidase™ and Purastar™ (from Genencor International Inc.).

Peroxidases/Oxidases: Suitable peroxidases/oxidases include those of plant, bacterial or fungal origin. Chemically modified or protein engineered mutants are included. Examples of useful peroxidases include peroxidases from Coprinus, e.g., from C. cinereus, and variants thereof as those described in WO 93/24618, WO 95/10602, and WO 98/15257.

Commercially available peroxidases include Guardzyme™ (Novozymes A/S).

The detergent enzyme(s) may be included in a detergent composition by adding separate additives containing one or more enzymes, or by adding a combined additive comprising all of these enzymes. A detergent additive of the invention, i.e., a separate additive or a combined additive, can be formulated, for example, as a granulate, liquid, slurry, etc. Preferred detergent additive formulations are granulates, in particular non-dusting granulates, liquids, in particular stabilized liquids, or slurries.

Non-dusting granulates may be produced, e.g., as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,106,991 and 4,661,452 and may optionally be coated by methods known in the art. Examples of waxy coating materials are poly(ethylene oxide) products (polyethyleneglycol, PEG) with mean molar weights of 1000 to 20000; ethoxylated nonylphenols having from 16 to 50 ethylene oxide units; ethoxylated fatty alcohols in which the alcohol contains from 12 to 20 carbon atoms and In which there are 15 to 80 ethylene oxide units; fatty alcohols; fatty acids; and mono- and di- and triglycerides of fatty acids. Examples of film-forming coating materials suitable for application by fluid bed techniques are given in GB 1483591. Liquid enzyme preparations may, for instance, be stabilized by adding a polyol such as propylene glycol, a sugar or sugar alcohol, lactic acid or boric acid according to established methods. Protected enzymes may be prepared according to the method disclosed in EP 238,216.

The detergent composition of the invention may be in any convenient form, e.g., a bar, a tablet, a powder, a granule, a paste or a liquid. A liquid detergent may be aqueous, typically containing up to 70% water and 0-30% organic solvent, or non-aqueous.

The detergent composition comprises one or more surfactants, which may be non-ionic including semi-polar and/or anionic and/or cationic and/or zwitterionic. The surfactants are typically present at a level of from 0.1% to 60% by weight.

When included therein the detergent will usually contain from about 1% to about 40% of an anionic surfactant such as linear alkylbenzenesulfonate, alpha-olefinsulfonate, alkyl sulfate (fatty alcohol sulfate), alcohol ethoxysulfate, secondary alkanesulfonate, alpha-sulfo fatty acid methyl ester, alkyl- or alkenylsuccinic acid, or soap.

When included therein the detergent will usually contain from about 0.2% to about 40% of a non-ionic surfactant such as alcohol ethoxylate, nonylphenol ethoxylate, alkylpolyglycoside, alkyldimethylamineoxide, ethoxylated fatty acid monoethanolamide, fatty acid monoethanolamide, polyhydroxy alkyl fatty acid amide, or N-acyl N-alkyl derivatives of glucosamine (“glucamides”).

The detergent may contain 0-65% of a detergent builder or complexing agent such as zeolite, diphosphate, triphosphate, phosphonate, carbonate, citrate, nitrilotriacetic acid, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid, alkyl- or alkenylsuccinic acid, soluble silicates, or layered silicates (e.g., SKS-6 from Hoechst).

The detergent may comprise one or more polymers. Examples are carboxymethylcellulose, poly(vinylpyrrolidone), poly(ethylene glycol), poly(vinyl alcohol), poly(vinylpyridine-N-oxide), poly(vinylimidazole), polycarboxylates such as polyacrylates, maleic/acrylic acid copolymers, and lauryl methacrylatelacrylic acid copolymers.

The detergent may contain a bleaching system which may comprise a H₂O₂ source such as perborate or percarbonate which may be combined with a peracid-forming bleach activator such as tetraacetylethylenediamine or nonanoyloxybenzenesulfonate. Alternatively, the bleaching system may comprise peroxyacids of, for example, the amide, imide, or sulfone type.

The enzyme(s) of the detergent composition of the invention may be stabilized using conventional stabilizing agents, e.g., a polyol such as propylene glycol or glycerol, a sugar or sugar alcohol, lactic acid, boric acid, or a boric acid derivative, e.g., an aromatic borate ester, or a phenyl boronic acid derivative such as 4-formylphenyl boronic acid, and the composition may be formulated as described in, for example, WO 92/19709 and WO 92/19708.

The detergent may also contain other conventional detergent ingredients such as, e.g., fabric conditioners including clays, foam boosters, suds suppressors, anti-corrosion agents, soil-suspending agents, anti-soil redeposition agents, dyes, bactericides, optical brighteners, hydrotropes, tarnish inhibitors, or perfumes.

In the detergent compositions, any enzyme may be added in an amount corresponding to 0.01-100 mg of enzyme protein per liter of wash liquor, preferably 0.05-5 mg of enzyme protein per liter of wash liquor, in particular 0.1-1 mg of enzyme protein per liter of wash liquor.

In the detergent compositions, a polypeptide of the present invention having cellulolytic enhancing activity may be added in an amount corresponding to 0.001-100 mg of protein, preferably 0.005-50 mg of protein, more preferably 0.01-25 mg of protein, even more preferably 0.05-10 mg of protein, most preferably 0.05-5 mg of protein, and even most preferably 0.01-1 mg of protein per liter of wash liquor.

A polypeptide of the invention having cellulolytic enhancing activity may also be incorporated in the detergent formulations disclosed in WO 97/07202, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

Other Uses

In general, treatment of any plant cell wall material may be enhanced by supplementing the polypeptides of the present invention having cellulolytic enhancing activity.

Signal Peptide

The present invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs comprising a gene encoding a protein operably linked to a nucleic acid sequence consisting of nucleotides 1 to 66 of SEQ ID NO: 1 encoding a signal peptide consisting of amino acids 1 to 22 of SEQ ID NO: 2, which allows secretion of the protein into a culture medium, wherein the gene is foreign to the nucleic acid sequence.

The present invention also relates to recombinant expression vectors and recombinant host cells comprising such nucleic acid constructs.

The present invention also relates to methods for producing a protein comprising: (a) cultivating such a recombinant host cell under conditions suitable for production of the protein; and (b) recovering the protein.

The protein may be native or heterologous to a host cell. The term “protein” is not meant herein to refer to a specific length of the encoded product and, therefore, encompasses peptides, oligopeptides, and proteins. The term “protein” also encompasses two or more polypeptides combined to form the encoded product. The proteins also include hybrid polypeptides which comprise a combination of partial or complete polypeptide sequences obtained from at least two different proteins wherein one or more may be heterologous or native to the host cell. Proteins further include naturally occurring allelic and engineered variations of the above mentioned proteins and hybrid proteins.

Preferably, the protein is a hormone or variant thereof, enzyme, receptor or portion thereof, antibody or portion thereof, or reporter. In a more preferred aspect, the protein is an oxidoreductase, transferase, hydrolase, lyase, isomerase, or ligase. In an even more preferred aspect, the protein is an aminopeptidase, amylase, carbohydrase, carboxypeptidase, catalase, cellobiohydrolase, cellulase, chitinase, cutinase, cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase, deoxyribonuclease, endoglucanase, esterase, alpha-galactosidase, beta-galactosidase, glucoamylase, alpha-glucosidase, beta-glucosidase, invertase, laccase, lipase, mannosidase, mutanase, oxidase, pectinolytic enzyme, peroxidase, phytase, polyphenoloxidase, proteolytic enzyme, ribonuclease, transglutaminase or xylanase.

The gene may be obtained from any prokaryotic, eukaryotic, or other source.

The present invention is further described by the following examples which should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention.

EXAMPLES

Materials

Chemicals used as buffers and substrates were commercial products of at least reagent grade.

Strains

Thermoascus aurantiacus strain NN044936 T002-5 was used as the source of the Family GH61 polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity. Aspergillus oryzae JaL250 strain (WO 99/61651) was used for expression of the Thermoascus aurantiacus polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity.

Media

Solid potato dextrose medium for routine plating and growth of Thermoascus aurantiacus was composed per liter of 39 grams of potato dextrose agar (Difco BD Biosciences, Franklin Lakes, N.J.). Liquid medium for growth of Thermoascus aurantiacus cultures was composed per liter of 24 grams of potato dextrose broth.

Luria-Bertani (LB) medium was composed per liter of 10 g of tryptone, 5 g of yeast extract, and 10 g of NaCl. LB medium for plating was prepared likewise, but contained in addition 15 g of agar per liter. 5-Bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside (X-Gal; Gold Biotechnology, St. Louis, Mo.) was dissolved at a stock concentration of 40 μg per ml in N,N′-dimethylformamide and routinely spread onto LB plates for differential colony screening. For selective growth conditions, ampicillin was added to LB media at a final concentration of 50-100 mg per liter.

NNCYP medium was composed per liter of 5.0 g of NH₄NO₃, 0.5 g of MgSO₄.7H₂O, 0.3 g of CaCl₂, 2.5 g of citric acid, 5.0 g of Bacto Peptone, 1.0 g of yeast extract, COVE trace metals, and sufficient K₂HPO₄ to achieve the final pH of approximately 5. Cove trace metals solution was composed per liter of 0.04 g of Na₂B₄O₇.10H₂O, 0.4 g of CuSO₄.5H₂O, 1.2 g of FeSO₄.7H₂O, 0.7 g of MnSO₄.H₂O, 0.8 g of Na₂MoO₂.2H₂O, and 10 g of ZnSO₄.7H₂O.

Example 1 Genomic DNA Library Construction

A 500 ml baffled flask containing 200 ml of NNCYP medium, pH 5.0 with 3% glucose was inoculated with an agar plug from a plate of Thermoascus aurantiacus grown on PDA. The culture was grown overnight at 45° C. with shaking at 170 rpm. Mycelia were collected by filtration through a Whatman #1 filter (Whatman Inc., Clifton N.J.) and frozen in liquid nitrogen. The frozen mycelia were ground to a powder in a chilled mortar and distributed to screw-cap tubes. The powder was suspended in a total volume of 40 ml of 60 mM CAPS NaOH buffer containing 0.5% lithium dodecyl sulfate and 0.5 mM EDTA. The suspension was placed at 60° C. for 2 hours and periodically mixed by inversion. To this was added an equal volume of neutralized phenol:chloroform (1:1), and the tubes were mixed on a rotating wheel at 37° C. for 2 hours. After centrifugation at 2500 rpm for 10 minutes in a Sorvall H1000B rotor (Kendro, Asheville N.C.), the aqueous phase was re-extracted and centrifuged as above. The aqueous phase from the second extraction was brought to 2.5 M ammonium acetate and placed at −20° C. until frozen. After thawing, the extract was centrifuged at 15,000×g for 20 minutes. The pellet was discarded and the nucleic acids in the supernatant precipitated by addition of 0.7 volumes of isopropanol. After centrifugation at 15,000×g, the pellet was rinsed three times with 70% ethanol, air-dried, and dissolved in 1.0 ml of 0.1×TE. The dissolved pellet was again precipitated by addition of ammonium acetate to 2.0 M and ethanol to 63% The pellet was rinsed twice with 70% ethanol, dried, and dissolved in 200 μl of 0.1×TE. Once in solution, the DNA was brought to 20 mM KCl.

The Thermoascus aurantiacus genomic library was constructed using a TOPO® Shotgun Subcloning Kit (Invitrogen, Inc, Carlsbad, Calif.). Genomic DNA was randomly sheared by nebulization under argon as recommended by the manufacturer. Size-selection for 2.5-5.0 kb inserts was done by preparative gel electrophoresis on a 1% agarose gel in TAE buffer.

Genomic DNA was cloned into pCR® 4Blunt-TOPO and used to transform E. coli TOP10 cells (Invitrogen, Inc, Carlsbad, Calif.) according to manufacturer's instructions. Initial platings on LB agar supplemented with ampicillin and X-Gal as described above, were used to estimate that approximately 64,000 clones had been generated. The library was amplified immediately following determination of the titer of recombinant clones. Each transformation reaction was used to inoculate 200 ml of LB medium containing 100 μg of ampicillin per ml. Shake flask cultures were then grown to saturation at 37° C. overnight and plasmid DNA was extracted by alkaline lysis and purified using a Qiagen Plasmid Maxi Kit.

Amplified libraries were subsequently used to generate colonies for isolation of clones by re-transformation and plating of E. coli TOP10 cells on LB agar supplemented with ampicillin and X-Gal as described above. Colony picking was performed using a Q-Pix robot (Genetix, Hampshire, UK) according to the manufacturer's instructions. A total of 22,353 individual colonies were initially picked into 96-well plates, then cultured under the selective conditions outlined in the media section above, and stored as glycerol stocks at −80° C.

Example 2 Roiling Circle Amplification and Printing of Microarrays

A robotic method for rolling circle amplification (RCA) and product dilution was developed for use on a Biomek FX robot (Beckman Coulter, Brea, Calif.). TempliPhi DNA Sequencing Template Amplification Kits (Amersham Biosciences Corp., Piscataway, N.J.) were used for RCA, and the manufacturer's protocol was followed in the robotic method.

RCA reactions were performed on 9,972 clones from the library. Duplicate 384-well dilution plates (Genemate, Kaysville, Utah) were prepared from 9,600 RCA products of the library, and these clones were printed onto poly-L-lysine coated glass slides to make microarrays, representing approximately 33 Mb of cloned DNA each. Additionally, the Thermoascus aurantiacus cbh1 (Accession No. AX657575) and xynA (Accession No. AJ132635) genes were spotted as positive controls, along with negative controls including empty pCR® 4Blunt-TOPO vector, and RCA prepared from non-transformed E. coli cells. The array printing was conducted using the methods described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,807,522.

Example 3 Fermentations and RNA Extraction

All fermentations were carried out in 2-liter Applikon fermentors that were batch fed with a carbon source of either 5.2% (w/v) glucose or 5.2% cellulose. Basal medium was NNCYP, and cellulose cultures also contained 0.4% glucose to facilitate initial cell growth. The pH was controlled during the course of the fermentation by addition of ammonium hydroxide or phosphoric acid. The fermentation was conducted at 42° C., pH 5, for a period of approximately 120 hours. Samples of mycelia were harvested on days 1 through 5 post-inoculum. The mycelial samples were quickly separated from the culture medium by filtration through Miracloth™ (Calbiochem, San Diego, Calif.), and then frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at −80° C.

A FastRNA® kit (Q•BIOgene, Carlsbad, Calif.) was used to extract RNA from mycelia samples following the manufacturer's protocol. RNA quality was assessed by electrophoresis on 1% agarose gels in TBE buffer at 55V for 1 to 1½ hours, or by capillary electrophoretic analysis using an Agilent 2100 bioanalyzer (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, Calif.). Quantity was measured by UV spectrophotometry and/or analysis on the Agilent 2100 bioanalyzer. Only samples from fermentation days 2, 3 and 4 consistently yielded RNA of sufficient quality for microarray experiments.

Example 4 Fluorescent Probe Construction and Microarray Hybridizations

Low RNA yields from Thermoascus aurantiacus samples necessitated the use of a linear amplification method (aRNA amplification) to generate sufficient quantities of RNA for microarray hybridizations. RNA was amplified and fluorescently labeled using the Amino Allyl MessageAmp™ aRNA Kit (Ambion, Inc., Austin, Tex.) following the manufacturer's instructions.

Briefly, first strand cDNA was generated from 2 μg total RNA by reverse transcription primed with T7 Oligo(dT). A T7 promoter primer was then used to synthesize second strand cDNA. Double-stranded cDNAs were purified and added to an in vitro transcription reaction to produce multiple copies of aRNA. Amino allyl-dUTPs were incorporated into the aRNAs during in vitro transcription to facilitate subsequent labeling with fluorescent cyanine dyes. The resulting aRNAs were purified and labeled by direct coupling of Cy3 and Cy5 fluorophores (CyeDye Post Labeling Reactive Dyes, Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Arlington Heights, Ill.) to amino allyl modified UTP residues on the aRNA according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Fluorescent probes were combined, purified, and dried under vacuum, then resuspended in 15.5 μl of water and added to the following: 3.6 μl of 20×SSC, 2.5 μl of 250 mM HEPES (pH 7.0), 1.8 μl of poly-dA (500 μg/ml), and 0.54 μl of 10% SDS. Before hybridization, the solution was filtered with a 0.22 μm filter, heated to 100° C. for 2 minutes and cooled to room temperature.

Probes (5 μg each of Cy3 and Cy5-labeled aRNA) were applied to microarrays under a cover glass and placed in a humidified chamber. Hybridization was carried out overnight (15-16 hours) at 63° C. Before scanning, the arrays were washed consecutively in 1×SSC with 0.03% SDS, 0.2×SSC, and 0.05×SSC, and centrifuged for 2 minutes at 500 rpm in a table-top centrifuge (Sorvall R7, RTH-250 rotor, Asheville, N.C.) to remove excess liquid.

Microarray slides were imaged using an Axon GenePix® 4000B scanner (Axon Instruments, Inc., Union City, Calif.). Image and data analyses were then performed using GenePix® Pro 5.0 software according to the manufacturer's instructions. Fluorescence intensity values for microarray spots were measured using the GenePix® software, and the ratio of Cy5 to Cy3 intensity for each spot was calculated following default background subtraction. Spots for which the Cy5/Cy3 intensity ratio was 2.0 or greater on replicate arrays were selected for DNA sequence analysis.

Following microarray analyses, clones of interest were selected and isolated from the glycerol cell suspensions stored at −80° C. DNA used for sequencing was prepared by an alkaline lysis procedure. Each clone was sequenced using T7 and M13 reverse primers (MWG Biotech, Inc., High Point, N.C.) which flank the polylinker of the pCR® 4Blunt-TOPO vector. The de-novo sequence was used to design primers that allowed extension of the known sequence, and this primer-walking strategy was then used to obtain full-length clone. Identities were sought first at the DNA level using a blast(n) algorithm (Altschul et al., 1990, Journal of Molecular Biology 215: 403-410). Subsequently, hypothetical translations of the DNA sequence in each of the six possible reading frames were compared to public databases (e.g., SwissProt, SWall, Trembl, Genpept, and GeneseqP) entries by using fasty (Pearson et al., 1997, Genomics 46: 24-36) and tblast(x) (Altschul et al., 1990, supra).

Example 5 Construction of pAILo2 Expression Vector

Expression vector pAILo1 was constructed by modifying pBANe6 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,461,837), which comprises the NA2-tpi promoter, Aspergillus niger amyloglucosidase terminator sequence (AMG terminator), and Aspergillus nidulans acetamidase gene (amdS). Modification of pBANe6 was performed by first eliminating three NcoI restriction sites at positions 2051, 2722, and 3397 bp from the amdS selection marker by site directed mutagenesis. All changes were designed to be “silent” leaving the actual protein sequence of the amdS gene product unchanged. Removal of these three sites was performed simultaneously with a GeneEditor site-directed mutagenesis kit (Promega, Madison, Wis.) according to the manufacturer's instructions using the following primers (underlined nucleotide represents the changed base):

AMDS3NcoMut (2050): 5′-GTGCCCCATGATACGCCTCCGG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 3) AMDS2NcoMut (2721): 5′-GAGTCGTATTTCCAAGGCTCCTGACC-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 4) AMDS1NcoMut (3396): 5′-GGAGGCCATGAAGTGGACCAACGG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 5)

A plasmid comprising all three expected sequence changes was then subjected to site-directed mutagenesis, using a QuickChange mutagenesis kit (Stratagene, La Jolla, Calif.), to eliminate the NcoI restriction site at the end of the AMG terminator at position 1643. The following primers (underlined nucleotide represents the changed base) were used for mutagenesis:

Upper Primer to Mutagenize the Aspergillus niger Amyloglucosidase (AMG) Terminator Sequence:

(SEQ ID NO: 6) 5′-CACCGTGAAAGCCATGCTCTTTCCTTCGTGTAGAAGACCAGACA G-3′ Lower Primer to Mutagenize the Aspergillus niger Amyloglucosidase (AMG) Terminator Sequence:

(SEQ ID NO: 7) 5′-CTGGTCTTCTACACGAAGGAAAGAGCATGGCTTTCACGGTGTCT G-3′

The last step in the modification of pBANe6 was the addition of a new NcoI restriction site at the beginning of the polylinker using a QuickChange mutagenesis kit and the following primers (underlined nucleotides represent the changed bases) to yield pAILo1 (FIG. 2).

Upper Primer to Mutagenize the Aspergillus niger Amylase Promoter (NA2-tpi):

(SEQ ID NO: 8) 5′-CTATATACACAACTGGATTTACCATGGGCCCGCGGCCGCAGATC-3′ Lower Primer to Mutagenize the Aspergillus niger Amylase Promoter (NA2-tpi):

(SEQ ID NO: 9) 5′-GATCTGCGGCCGCGGGCCCATGGTAAATCCAGTTGTGTATATAG-3′

The amdS gene of pAILo1 was swapped with the Aspergillus nidulans pyrG gene. Plasmid pBANe10 (FIG. 3) was used as a source for the pyrG gene. Analysis of the sequence of pBANe10 showed that the pyrG marker was contained within an NsiI restriction fragment and does not contain either NcoI or PacI restriction sites. Since the amdS is also flanked by NsiI restriction sites the strategy to switch the selection marker was a simple swap of NsiI restriction fragments. Plasmid DNA from pAILo1 and pBANe10 were digested with the restriction enzyme NsiI and the products purified by agarose gel electrophoresis using standard procedures. The NsiI fragment from pBANe1 containing the pyrG gene was ligated to the backbone of pAILo1 to replace the original NsiI DNA fragment containing the amdS gene. Recombinant clones were analyzed by restriction digest to determine whether they had the correct insert and correct orientation. A clone with the pyrG gene transcribed in the counterclockwise direction was selected. The new plasmid was designated pAILo2 (FIG. 4).

Example 6 Construction of an Aspergillus oryzae Expression Vector

Two synthetic oligonucleotide primers shown below were designed to PCR amplify a Thermoascus aurantiacus gene encoding a putative Family GH61A from genomic clone number 3. An InFusion Cloning Kit (BD Biosciences, Palo Alto, Calif.) was used to clone the fragment directly into the expression vector, pAILo2, without the need for restriction digests or ligation.

Forward primer: (SEQ ID NO: 10) 5′-CACAACTGGATTTACCATGTCCTTTTCCAAG-3′ Reverse primer (SEQ ID NO: 11) 5′-AGTCACCTCTAGTTATTAACCAGTATACAG-3′ Bold letters represent coding sequence. The remaining sequence is homologous to the insertion sites of pAILo2.

Two hundred picomoles of each of the primers above were used in a PCR reaction consisting of DNA representing the original Thermoascus aurantiacus genomic clone number 3 which contained the GH61A coding sequence, 10 mM KCl, 20 mM Tris-HCl pH 8.8, 10 mM (NH₄)₂SO₄, 2 mM MgSO₄, 0.1% Triton X-100, 200 μM each deoxyribonucleotide (dATP, dTTP, dGTP, and dCTP), and 2 units of Vent_(R)® DNA Polymerase (all PCR related enzymes and reagents from New England Biolabs, Inc., Beverly, Mass.), in a final volume of 50 μl. The amplification conditions were one cycle at 95° C. for 1 minute; 30 cycles each at 94° C. for 30 seconds, 50° C. for 30 seconds, 72° C. for 1 minute; and one final cycle at 72° C. for 7 minutes. The heat block then went to a 4° C. soak cycle.

The fragment was then cloned into the pAILo2 expression vector using an Infusion Cloning Kit according to the manufacturer's instructions. The vector was digested with NcoI and PacI under conditions recommended by the manufacturer. The fragments were purified using a MinElute™ Reaction Cleanup Kit (QIAGEN, Valencia, Calif.). The gene fragment and the linearized vector were ligated together in a reaction resulting in the expression plasmid pDZA2 (FIG. 5) in which transcription of the Family GH61A gene was under the control of the NA2-tpi promoter. Plasmid pDZA2 was missing 152 bp of pAILo2. The ligation reaction included approximately 100 ng of pAILo2 digested with NcoI and PacI, and 100 ng of the Thermoascus aurantiacus GH61A purified PCR product. Ligation conditions were in accordance with the Infusion Cloning Kit manufacturer's protocol. E. coli XL1-Blue Subcloning-Grade Competent Cells (Stratagene, La Jolla, Calif.) were transformed with the ligation product. Identity of the construct was confirmed by DNA sequencing of the GH61A coding sequence from plasmids purified from transformed E. coli. One clone containing the recombinant plasmid was designated E. coli pDZA2-7.

Example 7 Characterization of the Thermoascus aurantiacus Genomic Sequence Encoding a Family GH61 Polypeptide having Cellulolytic Enhancing Activity

DNA sequencing of the Thermoascus aurantiacus GH61A genomic clone 15 was performed with an Applied Biosystems Model 3700 Automated DNA Sequencer using version 3.1 Big Dye terminator chemistry and dGTP chemistry (Applied Biosystems, Inc., Foster City, Calif.) and primer walking strategy. Nucleotide sequences were assembled and compared using the ContigExpress component of Vector NTI 8 Suite software package (Informax, Inc., Frederick, Md.

The nucleotide sequence (SEQ ID NO: 1) and deduced amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 2) of the Thermoascus aurantiacus polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity are shown in FIG. 1. The coding sequence encodes a protein of 250 amino acids. The coding sequence is 799 bp including the stop codon and is interrupted by a single intron of 46 bp. The coding region is 48.7% G+C. Using the SignaIP program (Nielsen et al., 1997, Protein Engineering 10:1-6), a signal peptide of 22 amino acid residues was predicted indicating the mature polypeptide contains 228 amino acids.

A comparative alignment of amino acid sequences was determined using a blastp algorithm (Higgins, 1989, supra) employing Paracel BioView Workbench software (Paracel, Pasadena, Calif.) with a blosum62 matrix. Gap penalties, existence: 11, and extension: 1, were employed as pairwise alignment parameters. The alignment showed that the deduced amino acid sequence of the Thermoascus aurantiacus gene encoding a Family GH61 polypeptide having cellulolytic enhancing activity shared 67%, 63%, and 58% identity to the deduced amino acid sequences of Family 61 proteins from Aspergillus nidulans hypothetical protein AN1041.2 (accession number EAA65609), Aspergillus nidulans hypothetical protein AN7891.2 (accession number EAA59545), and Aspergillus nidulans hypothetical protein AN9524.2 (accession number EAA66740), respectively.

E. coli XL1-Blue (Stratagene, La Jolla, Calif.) containing plasmid pDZA2-7 was deposited with the Agricultural Research Service Patent Culture Collection, Northern Regional Research Center, 1815 University Street, Peoria, Ill., 61604, as NRRL B-30704, with a deposit date of Jan. 30, 2004.

Example 8 Expression of the Thermoascus aurantiacus Gene Encoding a Family GH61A Polypeptide Having Cellulolytic Enhancing Activity in Aspergillus oryzae JaL250

Aspergillus oryzae JaL250 protoplasts were prepared according to the method of Christensen et al., 1988, Bio/Technology 6: 1419-1422. Approximately 1.5 μg of pDZA2 was used to transform Aspergillus oryzae JaL250. Plasmid pAILo2 was run as a control.

The transformation of Aspergillus oryzae JaL250 with pDZA2 yielded about 11 transformants. Ten of the transformants were isolated to individual PDA plates.

Confluent PDA plates of all transformants were washed with 5 ml of 0.01% Tween 20 and inoculated separately into 25 ml of MDU2BP medium in 125 ml glass shake flasks and incubated at 34° C., 250 rpm. Six days after incubation, 5 μl of supernatant from each culture was analyzed using 8-16% Tris-Glycine SDS-PAGE gels (Invitrogen, Inc, Carlsbad, Calif.) according to the manufacturer's instructions. SDS-PAGE analysis showed a GH61A band migrated with an apparent MW slightly greater than 25 kDa for nine of ten transformants.

Example 9 Characterization of Thermoascus aurantiacus GH61A having Cellulolytic Enhancing Activity

Corn stover was pretreated at the U.S. Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) using dilute sulfuric acid. The following conditions were used for the pretreatment: 0.048 g sulfuric acid/g dry biomass at 190° C. and 25% w/w dry solids for around 1 minute. According to NREL, the water-insoluble solids in the pretreated corn stover (PCS) contained 52% cellulose, 3.6% hemicellulose and 29.8% lignin. Cellulose and hemicellulose were determined by a two-stage sulfuric acid hydrolysis with subsequent analysis of sugars by high performance liquid chromatography using NREL Standard Analytical Procedure #002. Lignin was determined gravimetrically after hydrolyzing the cellulose and hemicellulose fractions with sulfuric acid using NREL Standard Analytical Procedure #003. Prior to enzymatic hydrolysis, the PCS was washed with a large volume of DDI water; the dry weight of the water-washed PCS was found to be 20.6%.

The Thermoascus aurantiacus GH61A polypeptide was expressed in Aspergillus oryzae as described in Example 8, and the broth was centrifuged at 9500×g and the supernatant was then was concentrated using an Amicon stirred cell equipped with a PM10 membrane (Millipore, Billerica, MA) and desalted using an Econo-Pac 10DG column (BioRad Laboratories, Hercules, Calif.).

Hydrolysis of PCS (10 mg per ml of 50 mM sodium acetate pH 5.0 buffer) was conducted using 1.1 ml Immunoware microtubes (Pierce, Rockford, Ill.) with a total reaction volume of 1.0 ml. The T. aurantiacus GH61A polypeptide was tested for Hs ability to enhance the hydrolytic capability of a cellulase preparation derived from fermentation of Trichoderma reesei expressing a beta-glucosidase from Aspergillus oryzae (WO 02/095014), hereinafter called Tr/AoBG and obtained from Novozymes A/S, Bagsværd, Denmark. Hydrolysis of PCS was performed using 2.5 mg of Tr/AoBG per gram of PCS, supplemented with f0.2 mg of the T. aurantiacus GH61A polypeptide per gram of PCS. PCS hydrolysis was performed at 50° C. (TS Autoflow CO₂ Jacketed Incubator). Reactions were run in duplicates and aliquots taken during the course of hydrolysis. PCS hydrolysis reactions were stopped by mixing a 20 μl aliquot of each hydrolyzate with 180 μl of 0.11 M NaOH (stop reagent). Appropriate serial dilutions were generated for each sample and the reducing sugar content determined using a para-hydroxybenzoic acid hydrazide (PHBAH, Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, Mo.) assay adapted to a 96 well microplate format as described below. Briefly, a 90 μl aliquot of an appropriately diluted sample was placed in a 96 well conical bottomed microplate. Reactions were initiated by adding 60 μl of 1.5% (w/v) PHBAH in 2% NaOH to each well. Plates were heated uncovered at 95° C. for 10 minutes. Plates were allowed to cool to room temperature (RT) and 50 μl of distilled H₂O added to each well. A 100 μl aliquot from each well was transferred to a flat bottomed 96 well plate and the absorbance at A_(410 nm) measured using a SpectraMax Microplate Reader (Molecular Devices, Sunnyvale, Calif.). Glucose standards (0.1-0.0125 mg/ml diluted with 0.4% sodium hydroxide) were used to prepare a standard curve to translate the obtained A_(410 nm) values into glucose equivalents. The resultant equivalents were used to calculate the percentage of PCS cellulose conversion for each reaction.

The degree of cellulose conversion to reducing sugar (conversion, %) was calculated using the following equation: Conversion_((%))=RS_((mg/ml))*100*162/(Cellulose_((mg/ml))*180)==RS_((mg/ml))*100/(Cellulose_((mg/ml))*1.111) In this equation, RS is the concentration of reducing sugar in solution measured in glucose equivalents (mg/ml), and the factor 1.111 reflects the weight gain in converting cellulose to glucose.

Cellulose conversion by Tr/AoBG alone (2.5 mg/g PCS) or supplemented with the T. aurantiacus GH61A polypeptide (0.2 mg per g of PCS) is summarized in Table 1:

TABLE 1 Cellulose conversion by Tr/AoBG alone or Tr/AoBG supplemented with Thermoascus aurantiacus GH61A polypeptide at 50° C., pH 5.0 for 115 hours Loading, Conversion at Test # Name mg/g PCS 115 h, % 1 Tr/AoBG 2.5 74.6 2 T. aurantiacus GH61A 0.2 <0.7% 3 Tr/AoBG + T. aurantiacus 2.5 + 0.2 83.8 GH61A 4 Tr/AoBG 3.5 82.4

Table 1 shows that the T. aurantiacus GH61A polypeptide enhanced the activity of Tr/AoBG on PCS. The T. aurantiacus GH61A polypeptide by itself (0.2 mg per g of PCS) yielded only a cellulose conversion of less than 0.7% after 115 hours. Supplementing 0.2 mg of the T. aurantiacus GH61A polypeptide to 2.5 mg of Tr/AoBG yielded a cellulose conversion higher than that by 3.5 mg of Tr/AoBG, indicating Tr/AoBG's activity on PCS was boosted by the T. aurantiacus GH61A polypeptide, and that there were synergistic effects between Tr/AoBG and the T. aurantiacus GH61A polypeptide.

Deposit of Biological Material

The following biological material has been deposited under the terms of the Budapest Treaty with the Agricultural Research Service Patent Culture Collection, Northern Regional Research Center, 1815 University Street, Peoria, Ill., 61604, and given the following accession number:

Deposit Accession Number Date of Deposit E. coli strain pDZA2-7 NRRL B-30704 Jan. 30, 2004

The strain has been deposited under conditions that assure that access to the culture will be available during the pendency of this patent application to one determined by the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks to be entitled thereto under 37 C.F.R. §1.14 and 35 U.S.C. §122. The deposit represents a substantially pure culture of the deposited strain. The deposit is available as required by foreign patent laws in countries wherein counterparts of the subject application, or its progeny are filed. However, it should be understood that the availability of a deposit does not constitute a license to practice the subject invention in derogation of patent rights granted by governmental action.

The invention described and claimed herein is not to be limited in scope by the specific aspects herein disclosed, since these aspects are intended as illustrations of several aspects of the invention. Any equivalent aspects are intended to be within the scope of this invention. Indeed, various modifications of the invention in addition to those shown and described herein will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description. Such modifications are also intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims. In the case of conflict, the present disclosure including definitions will control.

Various references are cited herein, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference in their entireties. 

1. An isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having the property of enhancing cellulolytic activity of a cellulolytic polypeptide, selected from the group consisting of: (a) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having the property of enhancing cellulolytic activity of a cellulolytic polypeptide and comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 95% identity to the mature polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 2; (b) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having the property of enhancing cellulolytic activity of a cellulolytic polypeptide, wherein the polynucleotide hybridizes under high stringency conditions with (i) the nucleic acid of SEQ ID NO: 1, or (ii) a full length complement strand of (i), wherein high stringency conditions are defined as prehybridization and hybridization at 42° C. in 5×SSPE, 0.3% SDS, 200 ug/ml sheared and denatured salmon sperm DNA, and 50% formamide and a wash three times each for 15 minutes using 2×SSC, 0.2% SDS at 65° C.; and (c) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having the property of enhancing cellulolytic activity of a cellulolytic polypeptide, wherein the polynucleotide comprises a nucleotide sequence having at least 95% identity to the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:
 1. 2. The polynucleotide of claim 1, which encodes a polypeptide having the property of enhancing cellulolytic activity of a cellulolytic polypeptide and compnsing an amino acid sequence having at least 95% identity to the mature polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:
 2. 3. The polynucleotide of claim 1, which encodes a polypeptide having the property of enhancing cellulolytic activity of a cellulolytic polypeptide and comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 97% identity to the mature polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:
 2. 4. The polynucleotide of claim 1, which encodes a polypeptide having the property of enhancing cellulolytic activity of a cellulolytic polypeptide and comprising or consisting of the mature polypeptide of SEQ LD NO: 2; or a fragment thereof having the property of enhancing cellulolytic activity of a cellulolytic polypeptide.
 5. The polynucleotide of claim 4, which encodes a polypeptide having the property of enhancing cellulolytic activity of a cellulolytic polypeptide and comprising or consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:
 2. 6. The polynucleotide of claim 4, which encodes a polypeptide having the property of enhancing cellulolytic activity of a cellulolytic polypeptide and comprising or consisting of the mature polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:
 2. 7. The polynucleotide of claim 1, which comprises a nucleotide sequence having at least 95% identity to the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO:
 1. 8. The polynucleotide of claim 1, which comprises a nucleotide sequence having at least 97% identity to the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO:
 1. 9. The polynucleotide of claim 1, which comprises or consists of the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1; or a subsequence thereof that encodes a polpeptide fragment having the property of enhancing cellulolytic activity of a cellulolytic polypeptide.
 10. The polynucleotide of claim 9, which comprises or consists of the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:
 1. 11. The polynucleotide of claim 9, which comprises or consists of the mature polypeptide coding sequence of SEQ ID NO:
 1. 12. The polynucleotide of claim 1, which is contained in plasmid pDZA2-7 which is contained in E. coli NRRL B-30704.
 13. The polynucleotide of claim 1, wherein the mature polypeptide is amino acids 23 to 250 of SEQ ID NO:
 2. 14. The polynucleotide of claim 1, wherein the mature polypeptide coding sequence is nucleotides 67 to 796 of SEQ ID NO:
 1. 15. A nucleic acid construct comprising the polynucleotide of claim 1 operably linked to one or more control sequences that direct the production of the polypeptide in a recombinant expression host.
 16. A recombinant expression vector comprising the nucleic acid construct of claim
 15. 17. A recombinant host cell comprising the nucleic acid construct of claim
 15. 18. A method for producing a polypeptide having the property of enhancing cellulolytic activity of a cellulolytic polypeptide, comprising (a) cultivating the host cell of claim 17 under conditions conducive for production of the polypeptide; and (b) recovering the polypeptide having the property of enhancing cellulolytic activity of a cellulolytic polypeptide.
 19. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 1, obtained by (a) hybridizing a population of DNA under high stringency conditions with (i) the nucleic acid of SEQ ID NO: 1, (ii), or a full length complemen strand of (i), wherein high stringency conditions are defined as prehybridization and hybridization at 42° C. in 5×SSPE, 0.3% SDS, 200 ug/ml sheared and denatured salmon sperm DNA, and 50% formamide and a wash three times each for 15 minutes using 2×SSC, 0.2% SDS at 65° C.; and (b) isolating the hybridizing polynucleotide, which encodes a polypeptide having the property of enhancing cellulolytic activity of a cellulolytic polypeptide.
 20. The polynudeotide of claim 19, wherein the mature polypeptide coding sequence is nucleotides 67 to 796 of SEQ ID NO:
 1. 